- Ecuador will choose the next president in the April leaked election between conservative incumbent Daniel Novoa and left-wing lawyer Luisa Gonzalez.
- Crime is a major problem for voters. Trafficking of cocaine produced in neighboring Colombia and Peru has contributed to the surge in murder, trickery and tor.
- Ecuador's National Election Council said 92.1% of votes were counted, Novore received 44.31% of Voight and Gonzalez received 43.83%. The other 14 candidates in the race were far behind them.
Ecuador will choose the next president in the April leaked election between conservative incumbent Daniel Novoa and left-wing lawyer Luisa Gonzalez.
And while neither of them won the first round elections on Sunday, they both went far ahead of the other 14 candidates, each earning 44% of the vote. Within percentage points, according to results on Monday.
The leaked election, set on April 13, was a recurring repetition of the snap elections in October 2023, winning a 16-month presidency.
Exclusively viewing Trump's repatriation flight on C-17 military plane to Ecuador
Noboa and González are currently fighting for a full four-year term, pledging voters to reduce the widespread criminal activity that postponed their lives four years ago.
The surge in violence in South American countries is linked to human trafficking of cocaine produced in neighboring Colombia and Peru. With so many voters becoming victims of crime, personal and collective losses will determine whether the third president can turn Ecuador in four years or if Novoa is worth more time. It was a deciding factor when making a decision.
Novoa, the heir to property built on the banana trade, and Gonzalez, Ecuador's most influential presidential protégé of this century, were clearly at the forefront of the election.
Ecuador's President Daniel Novoa accompanied his running fellow Maria Jose Pinto to vote in the presidential election held in Quito, Ecuador on February 9, 2025, and was re-electioned. I ran. (AP Photo/Carlos noriega)
Figures released by Ecuador's National Election Council showed that 92.1% of the votes were counted, indicating that Noboa received 4.22 million votes (44.31% and González received 4.17 million votes, or 43.83%. The other 14 candidates of the group were far behind them.
Voting is required in Ecuador. Election officials reported that more than 83% of the approximately 13.7 million eligible voters will vote.
Crime, gangster, fear tor
Under Noboa's surveillance, the homicide rate fell from 46.18 per 100,000 in 2023 to 38.76 per 100,000 last year. Still, it remains much higher than 6.85 per 100,000 people in 2019, with other crimes such as temptation and fear tor, which has led people to fear leaving their homes.
“For me, this president is disastrous,” said 35-year-old Marta Barres, who went to the voting centre with 35 teenagers. “Can he change things in another four years? No. He's not doing anything.”
Valles, who has to pay $25 a month to a local gang to avoid harassment and worse, says she supported Gonzalez because she believes she can reduce crime all over the place and improve the economy. I did.
Novoa defeated Gonzalez in the October 2023 Snap election leak. This was caused by the decision of then-President Guillermo Lasso to dissolve the Parliament and, as a result, shortened his own mission. Former President Rafael Correa mentees Novoa and Gonzalez served only brief stints as lawmakers before the presidential election began that year.
To win fully on Sunday, the candidate needed a 10-point lead over the nearest challenger, 50% of the vote, or at least 40%.
More than 100,000 police officers and military members have been deployed nationwide to protect elections, including voting centres. At least 50 officers accompanied Novoa, his wife and two-year-old son, taking him to a voting center where the president voted in Oron's small Pacific coastal community.
Testing legal restrictions and norms of governance
At the age of 18, Noboa, 37, opened an event organisation company and joined his father, Noboa Corp., where he served as managers in transportation, logistics and commercial areas. His political career began in 2021 when he won a seat in Parliament and chaired the Economic Development Committee.
As president for the past 15 months, some of his Manodura, or some of his tactics to reduce crime, have been scrutinized both domestically and internationally to test the limitations of law and norms of governance.
Luisa Gonzalez, presidential candidate for the Civic Revolution Movement, will speak out after closing the poll for the presidential election in Quito, Ecuador on February 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Carlos noriega)
His questioned tactics include the state of internal armed conflict he declared in January 2024 to mobilize the army where organized crime has taken hold, and the police against the Mexican embassy in the capital last year. Approval of the attack, Kito arrests Vice President Jorge Glass, a convicted criminal and fugitive who lived there for several months.
However, his frontal approach also has voted for him.
“Noboa is the only person who has hit organized crime hard,” said the retired German Rizzo, who voted to re-election the president, and outside a polling station in Sambo London, at a gate separated from the port city of Guayaquil. He said it is an upper class area with a community. river.
“Things won't change.”
Gonzalez, 47, led Ecuador from 2007 to 2017, free spending and leading Ecuador with conservative policies, becoming increasingly authoritarian over his past few years as president. He was put in prison in 2020 for absent from a corruption scandal.
Gonzalez was a lawmaker from 2021 when Lasso dissolved the National Assembly until May 2023. She was unknown to most voters until the Correa party chose her as the presidential candidate for the Snap election.
Quito's University of the Americas University Professor Maria Cristina Bayas said Sunday's results were “winning” for Correa's party as pre-election polls predicted widespread differences between Noboa and González.
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Esteban Ron, director of Social Sciences at the International University of SEK in Quito, said Novoa will be forced to redesign his campaign at the risk that he may have already reached his voting cap. Ron said the outcome was attributed to the problems Novore faced during his administration.
Architectural student Kayla Torres, waiting for her turn to vote in Guayaquil, said she has yet to decide who she will vote for. She said that she could lower crime across Ecuador due to the deep corruption of the government.
“I wouldn't be here if I could,” Torres said. “Things won't change.”
