Ecuador Election: Could Julian Assange Be Arrested or Lose Asylum?

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Rumors are flying that Julian Assange might be arrested as early as Sunday. Is there any truth to this? Unfortunately, it might be a possibility. A runoff election in Ecuador is taking place on Sunday, April 2, and this could determine if Assange is able to maintain his asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy.

In February, an election for the next Ecuador president did not result in a clear winner. There were nine candidates, but Lenin Moreno, the governing party candidate, got 39.4 percent of the votes. He needed 40 percent to win. Because of this, he’s having a runoff election on April 2 with Guillermo Lasso, a conservative former banker. Lasso placed second at 28.1 percent.

The election will determine who succeeds President Rafael Correa, the leftist leader of Ecuador’s “citizen’s revolution.” He was elected in 2007 and he granted Assange’s asylum in the first place. It’s expected that Moreno, his vice-president, will keep the status quo and allow Assange to remain in the embassy.

But his opponent, Lasso, has stated that he would remove Assange from the embassy if he was elected. RT reported that Lasso said:

Ecuador had no business spending a single cent protecting someone who definitely leaked confidential information.”

So Assange’s future hangs in the balance, based on how the election turns out. If he has to leave the embassy, he will likely be arrested.

Assange’s response was to not bow to pressure:

Recent polls give Moreno a slight edge of 52 percent to 48 percent, Fox News reported on March 30. But the race is tight and the polls are within a margin of error. In fact, back in late February, Lasso was the one predicted to win the runoff, Reuters reported. But recent news about Lasso’s business dealings have tilted things back to Moreno’s favor.

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