Ecuador celebrates this Sunday the second round of the presidential electionsin which citizens must decide between re -elected the current president, Daniel Noboa, or return to correism to power after eight years in the opposition. The candidate Luisa Gonzálezif winning, I would make history by becoming the first woman chosen president at the polls in the country.
For the second time in a year and a half, Ecuadorians choose between Noboa and González, as in the extraordinary elections of 2023, where the businessman, Heir of one of the country’s greatest fortunesbecame the youngest president in Latin America and the democratic history of Ecuador. In those elections, Noboa achieved 51.83 % of the votes compared to 48.17 % of González, but now The second round is anticipated even more adjustedwith a polarization that in the first round caused the distance between them to be just over 16,000 votes. The winner will govern Ecuador for the next four years (2025-2029) and the election implies two opposite models of understanding the State and relating to the world.
On the one hand, the candidate and leader of National Democratic Action (DNA) has already announced that, if he wins, he will promote a Constituent Assembly that leaves the current Constitution behindapproved during the mandate of Rafael Correa (2007-2017), to deepen its liberal public spending control reforms, attraction of foreign investment and labor flexibility, among other aspects.
In the international sphere it has United States as its main supporthas recognized Edmundo González Urrutia as elected president of Venezuela and is enmity with numerous leftist governments, especially after ordering the invasion of the Mexico Embassy to stop former Vice President Correísta Jorge Glas.
On the other, the candidate of the Citizen Revolution (RC), a party that has Correa as a leader, represents the correist model of greater social assistance, public spending and redistribution of wealth with greater control over the economy, while she has already anticipated that will recognize Nicolás Maduro as president of Venezuela and will restore relations with Mexico.
González promises “Unit”, Noboa claims “Hard Hand”
After an electoral campaign full of attacks, insults and expletives, Equality remains between both candidatesWhile González has made an effort to agglutinate other political forces around her to create a “unity” government. “There will be no persecution,” he promised. The Correísta signed a pact to add other leftist forces, including Pachakutik, the political arm of the indigenous movementwhose presidential candidate, Leonidas IZA, obtained more than half a million votes in the first round that are expected decisive in this ballot, although there are other indigenous organizations that have announced their support to Noboa.
He has also anticipated the possibility of counting within his cabinet with the former presidential candidate Jan Topic, of Centrodechwho could not compete in these elections to be disabled by a challenge that he blames Noboa, since the former security and security entrepreneur was outlined as a serious rival to unseat him.
Meanwhile, Noboa wanted to show his international connections by maintaining a Private meeting with the president of the United States, Donald Trumpin Mar-A-Lago (Florida) and has sought to redouble the efforts in combat with “hard hand” to criminal gangs, including a visit from the founder of the private security company Blackwater, Erik Prince, as an advisor to the Government.
Crisis for criminal violence
Insecurity remains as the main concern of Ecuadorians before the escalation of violence that has led to place Ecuador at the head of Latin America in homicide index, Reluded at this beginning of 2025 with an average of an hour murder. Thus, for this election day around 100,000 members of the security forces will be deployed again to protect electoral enclosures, including some 60,000 police and 40,000 military.
Before a result that is expected so adjusted, it remains to be seen the reaction of the candidates that already in the first round DThey stated without vote irregularities And in the scrutiny, which was quickly ruled out by the electoral observation missions of the European Union (EU) and the Organization of American States (OAS), which did not see indications of “fraud”.
Noboa came to affirm that allegedly criminal bands had extorted voters To vote for González, and got the National Electoral Council (CNE), in a controversial decision, forbidden for this second round to vote with the phone in hand, understanding that it can be used to photograph the ballot as proof of the vote.
