2023-08-21 02:18:21
The correísmo candidate, Luisa González, and the businessman Daniel Noboa would compete for the presidency of Ecuador in the second round, according to the preliminary result of the scrutiny of the extraordinary presidential elections that the neighboring country experienced this Sunday.
Noboa was the big surprise of the day, since he did not appear as a favorite in the polls. On the contrary, the polls placed González as the winner, with 24 percent of voting intentions, followed by other characters such as Fernando Villavicencio, shot to death following leaving a rally in Quito, with 12.5 percent support.
According to the latest Cedatos survey, Jan Topic was in third place, followed by Yaku Pérez and Otto Sonnenholzner. And the other three candidates: Daniel Noboa, Xavier Hervas, and Bolívar Armijos, added 6.76 percent between the three.
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Who is Daniel Noboa?
Noboa, 35, surprised Ecuadorians when he announced his candidacy for the Presidency last May, following President Guillermo Lasso dissolved the Assembly and called for early elections to put a stop to the political blockade that the country is experiencing.
(Also read: Family of Fernando Villavicencio denounces President Lasso for murder by omission)
On his X account, formerly Twitter, Noboa wrote on that occasion that Ecuador needs to change its way of facing the challenges that hinder the progress of citizenship and affirmed that the security and development of Ecuadorians were at stake.
“If they give me their support, we will finally be able to have someone who governs for the interest of the citizenry, not for their own benefits,” he said.
According to the profile on his presidential campaign page, Noboa was born on November 30, 1987 in Guayaquil.
The candidate comes from a family dedicated to politics, since his father is the businessman Álvaro Noboa, who was a presidential candidate five times and went to the second round three times, the last one once morest Rafael Correa in 2006. His mother Anabella Azín, for For her part, she was a legislator.
Noboa studied Business Administration at New York University’s Stern School of Business. He then studied Public Administration at Harvard and did an MA in Governance and Political Communication at George Washington University.
(You can read: Ecuador: ‘While the State has been lost, crime has been well organized’)
Noboa was an assembly member in the 2021-2023 period and won his seat for the province of Santa Elena with the support of the United Ecuadorian party, now defunct. He was serving as chairman of the Economic Development Commission when Lasso dissolved Parliament in May.
Noboa ran for office as a candidate for the National Democratic Action (ADN) party and was the big surprise of election day this Sunday, as he had been behind most of the other candidates in the polls for most of the contest. .
Two days before the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio, he was in sixth place with 3.7 percent of the vote in a Comunicaliza poll. But he began to rise in the days following the August 13 presidential debate.
“Noboa grew due to two factors: the first was the death of Villavicencio, which changed everything, and the debate, where Noboa was the winner,” said Francis Romero, president of the Click Research pollster.
Noboa’s campaign handled post-debate positioning on social networks very well and convinced voters “that he is prepared, that he has a plan to reactivate the country’s economy and create jobs,” Romero said.
His campaign claimed he was the target of a shooting during a rally on August 17, but police denied that the shooting in the violent Guayaquil suburb of Durán was directed at him.
(Keep reading: Murder of Villavicencio, turning point of the drug challenge that hits Ecuador)
Noboa says he will defeat correísmo
Noboa already took it for granted that he will go to the second round and stressed this Sunday in a press conference that he will be the one who has the opportunity to defeat Correísmo in the ballot scheduled for Sunday, October 15.
“It will not be the first time that a new project turns the political ‘establishment’ around. That freshness in doing politics is what has led us here,” he said at the press conference, held in Guayaquil.
Noboa considered that her candidacy has been driven by the young and female vote. “Today it is the most neglected demographic segment, also a lot of female and young votes, managed to push this candidacy forward,” said the candidate.
(Also: What are the main criminal gangs operating in Ecuador)
Asked what formula he will use to defeat the Citizen Revolution, the party led by former President Rafael Correa (2007-2017), Noboa pointed to “be honest, work hard in the territory and reach the most needy and the most abandoned places.”
“I think we have a great project and we carried out an excellent campaign in the territory. What we needed was to increase awareness and that was achieved with the debate,” said the candidate.
I think we have a great project and we did an excellent campaign in the territory
Noboa also affirmed that the only alliance he has is “with the people, and with that we will win the second round.”
“Right now we have a plan, a project, and if there are people who want to join, they are welcome,” said Noboa, who anticipated that he will talk with the candidate Jan Topic, a security specialist, to see what he can contribute to his candidacy in the second round.
(In other news: ‘Ecuador was afraid of becoming Venezuela and now it looks like the Colombia of the 80s’)
Regarding his security, following he had denounced death threats as happened to the murdered candidate Fernando Villavicencio, the ADN alliance candidate commented that he will try to protect himself with “a lot of security and assistance from advanced security teams.”
“We will continue the same in territory. You have to be at the desk. We have to reach those people who are where no one arrives,” he concluded.
More than 13.4 million Ecuadorians were summoned to the polls this Sunday to elect a new ruler and the 137 new members of the Assembly, in addition to two environmental consultations to prohibit oil and mining, respectively, in both natural areas.
The elections took place without major incidents and had a participation of 82.26%, in the midst of a state of emergency decreed by the Government following the murder of Villavicencio to reinforce the custody and security of the voting centers with the Police and the Forces Armed.
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