The Dirty Campaign Underlying Ecuador’s “Free and Fair” Election 17.04.2021 - Ecuador - Codepink A spoiled ballot in Ecuador’s elections. (Image by @AlinaDuarte_) Ecuador’s April 11 election that led to a 5-point victory by conservative banker Guillermo Lasso over progressive candidate Andrés Arauz was not what it appeared to be. On the surface, it was a surprisingly clean and professional election, as our CODEPINK official observer delegation witnessed. But a fraud-free process for casting and counting ballots does not mean that the election was free and fair. Behind the scenes was a monumentally unequal playing field and dirty campaign designed to quash an Arauz win.