Assange to learn this week whether he faces likely eviction from Ecuadorian embassy following presidential vote

Challenger in Ecuadorian presidential election has vowed to evict Assange from London embassy

Wikileaks' Julian Assange could find out this week whether he is likely to face eviction from the Embassy of Ecuador, London following the presidential election run-off in the Ecuadorian election between Guillermo Lasso and Lenin Moreno at the weekend.

Lasso, a businessman who is the opposition candidate, had pledged to turf-out Assange if he wins.

Moreno, meanwhile, served as vice president under incumbent Rafael Correa from 2007 to 2013. Correa is constitutionally barred from serving a further term. Moreno has said that Assange can stay at the London embassy indefinitely, although he may impose some conditions.

Should Lasso win and rescind the presidential decree granting him asylum in the Embassy, Assange would probably have little choice but to leave, notwithstanding a token legal appeal in Ecuador. According to The Guardian, Assange has instructed lawyers in the Ecuadorian capital Quito to fight his ejection, should he be ordered out.

At the same time, the British government may well be persuaded to reinstate the 24-hour police watch of the Embassy to prevent him slipping out unnoticed. This was downgraded in October 2015 after three years after the cost had escalated to more than £11m.

Assange was granted sanctuary in the Embassy of Ecuador, London in June 2012, following the personal intervention of Ecuadorian president Corea. Assange applied for political asylum in Ecuador at around the same time. That was granted in August, but Assange has not been able to leave the Embassy since then for fear of arrest and immediate deportation to Sweden.

That followed the re-opening of a 2010 investigation into claims of a sexual assault in Sweden. Assange has counter-claimed that the investigation, which had been closed due to lack of evidence back in 2010, had only been re-opened on political grounds after Wikileaks published material embarrassing to the US government.

Assange's self-imposed detention at the Embassy coincided with the Edward Snowden leaks. Although Assange and his Wikileaks organisation had nothing to do with the leaks, some of the Snowden documents suggested that Assange was put on a "Manhunting Timeline" in 2010 by US security services.

They also indicated that the US had put diplomatic pressure on allies to open criminal investigations into Assange, while the US National Security Agency (NSA) wanted to designate Wikileaks as a "malicious foreign actor" in order to justify upping surveillance against the organisation and people associated with it.

And, because of the European Arrest Warrant among European Union member states, Assange would be put on a plane to Sweden almost straightaway - without being able to make his case at an extradition hearing.

Correa's term will formally come to an end on 24 May 2017, so Assange would have the best part of two months, at the least, to hand over the reigns of Wikileaks and pack his bags before vacating the Embassy.

As Ecuadorians head prepare to vote, though, Moreno enjoys a modest lead in opinion polls, although his victory is by no means assured.