The president of violence-hit Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, claimed his razor-thin lead Monday in first-round voting as a win, despite a stronger-than-expected showing by his leftist challenger Luisa Gonzalez.With 93 percent of the ballots counted from Sunday’s election, Noboa, who campaigned on his crackdown on drug cartel violence, had 44.3 percent against 43.9 percent for Gonzalez, official results showed. They will now compete in a runoff in April.Breaking his silence on the result, which came despite pre-election polls giving him a strong lead, the 37-year-old incumbent claimed victory over the left.”We won the first round over all the parties of old Ecuador,” Noboa, who is the heir to a billion-dollar banana export business, said.Gonzalez, a 47-year-old lawyer and single mother of two who has called for greater respect for human rights in the war on the cartels, made a rival claim of victory in what she called a David-versus-Goliath battle.The result “shows that people want change,” she told the Teleamazonas TV channel.Indigenous leader Leonidas Iza was trailing a distant third, with 5.3 percent.Gonzalez is bidding to become Ecuador’s first elected female president.She received a key endorsement Monday from Mexico’s first female head of state, fellow leftist Claudia Sheinbaum, who said she hoped for an Ecuadoran “presidenta” to restore relations after a bitter spat between the two countries under Noboa.The election — a rematch between Noboa and Gonzalez who already duelled for the top job just 15 months ago — was seen by many as a referendum on Noboa’s hardline law enforcement response in the face of record rates of murder, kidnapping and extortion and a stalled economy.In just a few years, cartels vying for control of Pacific ports and lucrative cocaine trading routes to Europe and Asia have transformed Ecuador from one of the safest countries in the world to one of the most dangerous. Supporters of Noboa, a security hawk with a flashy public image, had been hoping he would garner the 50 percent of votes needed to avoid a run-offl.- Rights abuses -During his 15 months in office he has declared a state of emergency, deployed the army to the streets and amassed extraordinary executive powers to curb cartel violence.But human rights groups say the aggressive use of the armed forces has led to abuses, including the murder of four boys whose charred bodies were recently found near an army base.Both Noboa and Gonzalez were shadowed on the campaign trail by a phalanx of special forces, hoping to avoid a repeat of the 2023 election, when a leading candidate was assassinated.But Sunday’s vote passed off peacefully.Noboa has warned that a Gonzalez win would herald a return to the policies of her mentor, exiled socialist ex-president Rafael Correa, who led the country from 2007 to 2017.From his exile in Belgium, Correa was bullish about the prospects of victory.”We are going to PASS Noboa,” he said in a social media post.Noboa pointed to his ADN party’s strong showing in legislative elections held alongside the presidential vote on Sunday as proof of his momentum.- Migrants return -The unrest in Ecuador has scared away tourists and investors alike, hitting an economy that likely entered a recession last year.Noboa has been forced to turn to the International Monetary Fund to build a $4 billion fiscal war chest.Gonzalez on Saturday told AFP that the IMF was “welcome” to help, so long as it does not insist on policies that hit working families.Ecuador is also girding for the return of thousands of migrants who are expected to be deported by US President Donald Trump’s administration — meaning a drop in remittances, which total about $6 billion a year.Gonzalez told AFP she wanted “appropriate” relations with Trump.
Mon, 10 Feb 2025 20:07:56 GMT
