Pedro José Freile Vallejo (born 18 January 1972) is an Ecuadorian lawyer and politician who is running for
President of Ecuador in the
2025 general election. He previously ran for president in the
2021 general election. Freile was born in
Quito
Quito (; qu, Kitu), formally San Francisco de Quito, is the capital and largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its urban area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha. Quito is located in a valley o ...
,
Ecuador.
Early career
Freile served as Director of the
Inter-American Development Bank
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB or IADB) is an international financial institution headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States of America, and serving as the largest source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribb ...
part of the Ecuador Division from 2004 to 2005.
Freile was a member of the board of directors of the Society for the Fight Against Cancer (SOLCA) from 2013 to 2015. Prior to entering politics, he was a member of the Quinto Poder group, which were actively protesting the presidency of
Rafael Correa.
2021 presidential campaign
In 2020, he became leader of the AMIGO Movement political party prior to launching his presidential campaign. During his campaign, commentators positively noted his debate performances and gained support despite running a small campaign. However, he came in fifth place in the first round of the
2021 election. He subsequently endorsed
Guillermo Lasso in the run-off election.
In 2022, he left the AMIGO Movement after reports that the party had pushed back against Freile.
Post-presidential campaign
In 2022, he unsuccessfully ran for
Mayor of Quito under the
PSE-
SUMA alliance.
Prior to President
Guillermo Lasso's
dissolution of the
National Assembly in May 2023, Freile expressed interest in running for the presidency again in 2025, however he opted to run for
Jan Topić
Jan Tomislav Topić Feraud (born 23 April 1983) is an Ecuadorian businessman, economist, and politician who ran for President of Ecuador in the 2023 Ecuadorian general election. He was eliminated in the first round held on 20 August 2023, coming ...
's running mate in the
2023 election until the
National Electoral Council disqualified him due to a mandate ruling
gender parity in candidacies.
He later became an advisor to Topic's campaign instead.
2025 presidential campaign
In July 2024, Freile registered as a pre-candidate for the
SUMA Party presidential nomination in the
2025 general election.
References
1972 births
Living people
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