Medellín, Colombia – A statistical tie in Sunday’s elections in Ecuador resulted in a run-off scheduled for April between incumbent President Daniel Noboa and former National Assembly member Luisa González.
Noboa, from the National Democratic Action party, won 44.28% of the vote, whilst González of the Citizen Revolution Movement won 43.86%. The remaining 14 candidates received just 10% of the vote, down from 30% in the previous election, underscoring what some political analysts call a “polarization” of the electorate.
No candidate crossed the 50% threshold of votes needed to secure a victory. Nor did they garner over 40% of the vote while beating the next closest opponent by more than 10%, forcing the run-off election that will be held on April 13.
The two politicians will face each other in their second run-off election, with Noboa having defeated González in October 2023 after the impeachment of then-President Guillermo Lasso forced early elections that year.
A relatively unknown politician and heir to a family banana fortune, Noboa campaigned in 2023 on a tough on crime platform. Fifteen months into his term, Noboa has been criticized for his inability to keep crime rates down, despite initial successes with the militarization of public security.
González, a former cabinet member of left-wing President Rafael Correa, has also promised to increase military and police presence to combat violent crime, but differs in her emphasis on increasing social spending to attack the root causes of poverty and crime.
Violence related to organized crime, energy blackouts and economic inequality are issues concerning Ecuador’s electorate. Despite a drop under Noboa, Ecuador still has a homicide rate nine times higher than the global average, and scheduled electricity blackouts blamed on droughts upset the populace. About 35% of the population lives in poverty.
Polls leading up to elections didn’t anticipate such a close race.
Fernando León, a professor from the Universidad Internacional de Ecuador, told El Universo, that this type of political polarization is “a phenomenon that’s never been seen in Ecuador.” He attributes the tight election result to “the continuing deterioration of the quality of life of Ecuadorians in terms of security, job creation and access to basic services.”
The National Electoral Council (CNE) has organized a presidential debate on March 23, which is compulsory for both candidates.
Featured image credit: Yamil Salinas Martínez via Flikr, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
The post Ecuador heads to a run-off election in April appeared first on Latin America Reports.
