Andrés Arauz Galarza (born 6 February 1985) is an Ecuadorian politician and economist. He was a candidate for President in the 2021 election.

Background

Andrés Arauz started his career as a public servant in 2009 at the

Central Bank of Ecuador The Central Bank of Ecuador (BCE, per its abbreviation in Spanish) is an institution of the Executive Function, which has institutional, administrative, financial, and technical autonomy. Is in charge of executing the monetary policy established ...

. He was general director of banking at the Central Bank from 2011 to 2013. He was later appointed deputy minister of planning and general director of national procurement. In March 2015, he was appointed Minister of Knowledge and Human Talent in the government of Rafael Correa, replacing Guillaume Long. From this position he led the coordination and supervision of the execution of the politics, programs, and projects of the Ministries of Education, Culture, Higher Education, Science, and Technology. Among the outcomes of these projects were improved technological independence in the country, the use of

free software Free software or libre software is computer software distributed under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, and distribute it and any adapted versions. Free software is a matter of liberty, n ...

, and the development of free knowledge. He also headed the Ministry of Culture for a brief period of time due to the resignation of

Raúl Vallejo Raúl Vallejo Suárez (born 25 August 1996) is a Spanish footballer who plays for CA Bembibre as a central midfielder. Club career Born in León, Vallejo finished his formation with CD Fútbol Peña, as a forward. In 2015 he signed for Terce ...

. In 2017, when

Lenín Moreno Lenín Voltaire Moreno Garcés (; born 19 March 1953) is an Ecuadorian politician who served as the 46th president of Ecuador, from 2017 to 2021. Moreno was vice president from 2007 to 2013, serving under President Rafael Correa. He was nomina ...

became president, Arauz turned to an academic career, co-founding the Observatory of Dollarization dedicated to disseminating essays and investigations on the subject of

dollarization Currency substitution is the use of a foreign currency in parallel to or instead of a domestic currency. The process is also known as dollarization or euroization when the foreign currency is the dollar or the euro, respectively. Currency subs ...

of various national economies and its effects. He also began doctoral studies on financial economics at the

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...

. He is a member of the Executive Council of International Progress. He is a member of the Executive Council of the Progressive International.

Political career

2021 presidential candidacy

Allies of former president Rafael Correa were prevented from registering a new political party after Moreno became president. As a result, a political coalition called Unión por la Esperanza (UNES), was formed, which includes the political organisations

Citizen Revolution Movement The Citizen Revolution Movement ( es, Movimiento Revolución Ciudadana) is a democratic socialist political party in Ecuador formed by supporters of former President Rafael Correa who distanced themselves from Correa's former PAIS Alliance party ...

and . On 18 August 2020, UNES announced Arauz as its candidate for President of Ecuador in the elections scheduled for 7 February 2021. Accompanying Arauz as running mate would have been Rafael Correa, who had been president from 2007 to 2017. However, his acceptance of the position was rejected by the National Electoral Council, which argued that it was mere procedure rather than politically motivated, as Correa, who resided in Belgium, refused to return to the country and serve an 8-year prison sentence for corruption. The courts barred Correa from holding a political position for 25 years. Arauz won the first round of the presidential election with almost 33% of votes. He faced banker

Guillermo Lasso Guillermo Alberto Santiago Lasso Mendoza (; born 16 November 1955) is an Ecuadorian businessman, banker, writer and politician who has served as the 47th president of Ecuador since 24 May 2021. He is the country's first centre-right president ...

in the runoff on 11 April. On the eve of the run-off, Arauz was slightly ahead of candidate Lasso in opinion polls, leading by a margin of 1% of 50% against Lasso's 49%. Lasso defeated Arauz in the run-off.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arauz, Andrés 1985 births Living people 21st-century Ecuadorian economists Ecuadorian politicians National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni People from Quito University of Michigan alumni