Quito, March 17 (RHC/PL) – Indigenous, Afro-Ecuadorean, and social movement organizations publicly have endorsed Lenin Moreno, candidate in Ecuador's upcoming April 2 run-off elections.

During a press conference, Romelio Gualán, from the national campesino organization Coordinadora Campesina Eloy Alfaro, said that Moreno's platform is closest to the proposals of "the country's neediest," reported El Telegrafo.

In endorsing Moreno — leader of the governing Alianza Pais party and former vice president during President Rafael Correa's first term — Gualán also called on the next government to improve rural transportation, reform intercultural and bilingual education in Indigenous communities, grant amnesty for Indigenous land defenders, and eliminate the controversial Decree 16 which regulates civil society organizations.

Even with those demands for reform, the group was adamant that the election of right-wing candidate and former banker Guillermo Lasso would be a disaster for social movements.