The dispute is between the leftwing candidate Luisa González and the liberal Daniel Noboa; The winner will rule the country until 2025
Ecuadorians return to the polls this Sunday (October 15, 2023) to elect the president who will rule the country until 2025. Leftwing candidate Luisa González and centerright businessman Daniel Noboa Azin are competing in the second round of voting.
González finished the first round of voting on August 20 with 33.61% of the vote, while Daniel Noboa received 23.47%. According to the National Electoral Council, more than 81% of voters showed up to vote in the first round.
The election, which was not scheduled to take place until 2025, was brought forward after Ecuador’s current president, Guillermo Lasso, used the constitutional clause known as “crossed death” to dissolve the National Assembly (Read more below).
In addition to political instability, Ecuador’s elections are also taking place amid high levels of insecurity and political violence. With just 11 days until the first round of voting, Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio of the Movimiento Construye was assassinated as he left a rally on his way to his car and was shot three times.
There was also the death of Pedro Briones, the leader of the political movement founded by former President Rafael Correa, and an attack on Estefany Puente a candidate for the National Assembly of Ecuador, whose car was shot at and who was grazed in the left arm.
On August 17, shots were heard during a Noboa campaign rally in the western city of Durán. At the X (formerly Twitter), the candidate reported the attack and said there were no injuries. “Intimidation and fear have no place in the country we love and work for the betterment of,” he wrote.
Experts interviewed by Power360 In August of this year, they stated that the security crisis in Ecuador was caused by the strengthening of criminal groups and drug trafficking in the country. Read the full report here.
Both candidates have proposals for security in the country. Luisa González proposes the restoration of the Coordinating Ministry of Security and the Ministry of Justice, Human Rights and Religion, as well as a restructuring of the Interior and Government Ministries.
It promises to strengthen security institutions and coordinate joint work between the armed forces, the police and the State Ministry.
In the context of combating drug trafficking and organized crime, the leftwing candidate plans to strengthen the application of Ecuadorian law and criminal justice to improve investigative capacity, evidence collection and prosecution of criminals.
González also defends the establishment of protection and security systems for witnesses and whistleblowers of corruption and organized crime. Read Luisa González’s full security plan (PDF 71 KB, in Spanish).
Daniel Noboa’s proposals focus primarily on reforming Ecuador’s prison and justice system. The centerright candidate advocates training police officers in peaceful conflict resolution techniques and developing rehabilitation programs for prisoners to reduce recidivism rates.
Noboa also suggests speeding up court proceedings and ensuring the right to a speedy and fair trial. She also calls for preventive detention guidelines to be reviewed and prison staff training to be improved. Read Daniel Noboa’s full security plan (PDF 61 KB, in Spanish).
Find out more about the candidates
The candidate belongs to the Movimiento Revolución Ciudadana (Civil Revolutionary Movement, in free translation), which is led by former President Rafael Correa. His deputy is economist Andrés Arauz, who served as Minister of Knowledge and Human Talents during Correa’s presidency.
Reproduction/Facebook Luisa González August 3, 2023 Candidate Luisa González during a campaign event in the Ecuadorian city of Puyo
González was born in Quito and holds a law degree from the International University of Ecuador. In 2008, she worked as an advisor to the Secretariat for Communications and Information of the Presidency of Ecuador. Two years later, she assumed the role of general coordinator of the president’s strategic agenda.
From 2011 to 2018, she held various positions in the government as Vice Consul of Ecuador in Madrid, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Tourism, Secretary General of the Office of the President, National Secretary of Public Administration and Minister of Labor. After the end of the Correa government, González was appointed National Secretary of the Andean Parliament.
The lawyer was elected to the National Assembly in the 2021 parliamentary elections. She was selected to represent the province of Manabí for the Unión por La Esperanza coalition. He served in this role until May 17, when the president declared a “death crusade,” which dissolved the assembly.
She defines her political movement as “progressivism based on social justice” and compares it to the actions of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) in Brazil and Cristina Kirchner in Argentina. He also states that he will “attack” the causes of the Ecuadorian crisis: “hunger, poverty, lack of jobs, lack of medicines in hospitals, lack of budget for education,” he said in an interview with the newspaper El País in July.
As for its economic proposals, the country aims to raise $2.5 trillion in foreign aid to restart the economy. “Don’t talk to me about the budget deficit, I’m going to talk about the lives lost, and we will guarantee that,” he said in the Aug. 13 presidential debate.
Daniel Noboa, 35 years old, is the son of tycoon Álvaro Noboa. He is running for “Acción Democrática Nacional” (National Democratic Action, in Portuguese).
Reproduction/Twitter @DanielNoboaOk Sep 6, 2023 Ecuador’s presidential candidate Daniel Noboa at a campaign event in El Oro province
According to the candidate, the election is an opportunity to move Ecuador away from Rafael Correa’s policies. “The people have made their options clear, I don’t believe in these coalitions, it seems to me a quandary.” “The people will be able to vote for the option that is not correísmo,” he said in his speech after learning had that he would be in the second round of voting.
At the age of 18, he founded his own company, DNA Entertainment Group. In 2010, he started working in his father’s company, Corporación Noboa.
The businessman’s political career began in 2021 when he was elected to the National Assembly. During the legislative period he was President of the Commission for Economic, Productive and MicroEnterprise Development.
CROSS DEATH
“Death on the cross” is a constitutional tool that allows the head of state to dissolve the National Assembly if he believes it harms his ability to govern. As a result, the ruler is forced to call new parliamentary and presidential elections, in which he risks not being reelected. The measure also stipulates that the head of state can govern the country through emergency legislative decrees while elections are not held.
The current President of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, used the resource to dissolve the National Assembly on May 17 this year. The move came a day after impeachment proceedings began against him in Parliament over his alleged involvement in an embezzlement scheme. The alleged crime is related to an order from the state oil transport company Flopec.
Lasso denies knowledge of the irregularities and says the allegations are a political maneuver by the opposition to topple him.
This was the president’s second impeachment attempt in less than a year. As of June 2022, Lasso was eight votes short of being judged by the Ecuadorian Congress. At the time, the country was struggling with violent indigenous protests due to the high cost of living, and a group of MPs filed a motion for dismissal due to serious social unrest.