QUITO Leftist government candidate Lenin Moreno has claimed victory in a tight presidential election in Ecuador on Sunday, likely continuing more than a decade of leftist rule in the OPEC nation of some 16 million people.
Some background on Moreno:
* Born in Nuevo Rocafuerte, in the Ecuadorean Amazon, in 1953.
* Studied public administration at Ecuador’s Central University.
* Lost mobility in his legs after being shot during a robbery in 1998 while he out buying bread with his wife.
* After a difficult recovery, became a motivational speaker and wrote self-help books focused on humor as therapy.
* Was outgoing leftist President Rafael Correa’s vice president from 2007 to 2013.
* Moved to Geneva, Switzerland, to become the United Nations’ special envoy on disability in 2013.
* Promises to bolster social welfare in oil-rich Ecuador, with benefits for the disabled, single mothers, youth, and the elderly.
* Soft spoken and prone to singing during campaign events, Moreno has a more conciliatory style than mercurial president Rafael Correa.
* Married and has three daughters.
(Reporting by Alexandra Ulmer and Alexandra Valencia; Editing by Girish Gupta and Michael Perry)
