2023-10-15 22:59:36
– Closure of polling stations for the presidential election in Ecuador
The first official results of the second round of the presidential election in Ecuador are expected early this Monday.
Published today at 12:59 a.m.
The turnout is 82.33%, a “number within the historical turnout rates of recent elections.”
AFP
Ecuadorians voted Sunday for the second round of the presidential election between a socialist lawyer, runner-up to former President Rafael Correa, and a liberal candidate, a neck-to-neck duel in a country given over to violence and drug trafficking .
This “historic face-to-face”, as the local press summarized it, will result either in the election of the first woman at the head of this South American country, Luisa Gonzalez, or in that of the youngest president of its modern story, Daniel Noboa, son of a wealthy businessman, banana magnate.
“Democratic celebration”
The vote closed at 5:00 p.m. local time (12:00 a.m. Swiss) and took place without major incident, according to the president of the electoral council (CNE), Diana Atamaint, who celebrated “a democratic celebration”. The participation rate is 82.33%, she has already announced, a “figure in the historical participation rates of the last elections”.
Irregularities were detected and resolved in time in the province of Sucumbios (north-east, bordering Colombia), with a person arrested in the act of filling out 14 ballots, according to the electoral mission of the Organization of American States ( OAS), which, apart from this minor incident, reported a “strong turnout” and a “calm” election.
The first results will be published from 6:30 p.m. local time (1:30 a.m. Swiss) and the winner will be known the same evening, according to the CNE. Luisa Gonzalez, 45, arrived on August 20 at the top of the first round with 34% of the votes. The youngest in the election, Daniel Noboa, 35, whose father – already an opponent of Koreanism – was himself an unsuccessful presidential candidate five times, created a surprise by taking second place (23%).
“Context of insecurity”
The pre-first round of August 20 was marked by the assassination of one of the main candidates, a former journalist with an anti-corruption speech. The election is taking place “in a context of insecurity and political violence imposed by gangs linked to international organized crime,” according to the local press.
Once considered an island of peace in Latin America, the country of 18 million inhabitants, located between Colombia and Peru, the world’s two largest producers of cocaine, has been overtaken by an unprecedented wave of violence linked to crime. organized and drug trafficking. This theme of insecurity comes up like a leitmotif among all the voters questioned, followed by that of unemployment.
While insecurity reaches “historic levels” and Ecuador is one of the countries with “the most crimes in the world”, a titanic task awaits the new elected official: “reduce the homicide rate, recover areas that have fallen under the control of organized crime, fight corruption, control prisons, purge security forces, improve justice, curb drug trafficking…”, lists the daily “El Universo” on Sunday.
“Save the country”
With very close polls, the last days of the campaign saw an avalanche of promises from the two candidates: “A new Ecuador”, a “firm hand” to “save the country”, the “end of delinquency”, “thousands of jobs”…
However, the new elected official will have only a short time to keep these amazing promises: he or she will govern until the beginning of 2025, the end of the mandate of outgoing President Guillermo Lasso who had called early elections to avoid his dismissal on the basis of corruption charges. The shadow of former President Correa (2007-2017) also hangs over this vote, while Luisa Gonzalez has already announced that she will make him her advisor.
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