2023-10-15 05:18:02
QUITO (AP) — Ecuador will go to the polls on Sunday to determine its democratic destiny when it is experiencing its most violent and insecure period as a country.
The early elections bury the mandate of Guillermo Lasso, following only two and a half years of administration in which murders have doubled consecutively, and put in the hands of two newcomers the aspirations of Ecuadorians to recover peace and straighten out the economy .
Daniel Noboa, a wealthy young man and heir to a banana magnate, and Luisa González, who seeks to reinstate the legacy of a leftist current that was in power for ten years, face each other in an unprecedented presidential battle for both of them. Until now, they had played a rather secondary political role.
In Sunday’s runoff, the vote of 13.45 million Ecuadorians is disputed, in a day that will start at 0700 (1200 GMT) and close at 1700 (2200 GMT).
In Ecuador, voting is mandatory for citizens between 18 and 64 years old, and optional for adolescents from 16 and 17 years old and adults over 65.
Whoever wins with a simple majority of votes will govern for only 18 months, until May 2025, which is the remaining period of Lasso’s mandate, following his decision to dissolve the Assembly to avoid undergoing a legislative impeachment trial for an alleged case. of energy corruption within his government.
The outgoing president must carry out the transfer of powers on a date yet to be defined that the electoral authority estimates for mid-December.
González, with 33.61% of popular support, and Noboa, with 23.47% of the votes, were winners of the first round of elections on August 20. Eight presidential candidates presented themselves, although one of them, Fernando Villavicencio, was shot dead leaving a political event in Quito in the north of the capital, days before the first round and was replaced by his friend and journalist Christian Zurita.
The presidential candidates have an important security device from the public force and wear bulletproof vests in all their public appearances. Nearly 90,000 soldiers and police will guard the elections.
The murder of the candidate is part of a crisis of insecurity and violence that has hit Ecuador for three years, placing it among the most dangerous countries in the region with a record number in 2022 of 4,600 violent deaths.
On Sunday, the elections for national assembly members will also be held for Ecuadorians residing abroad in a vote that corresponded to the first round and that had to be repeated due to failures in the electronic voting system. With this, the allocation of seats in the legislature, which is made up of 137 assembly members, will be completed.
Election day will have the participation of 310 international observers and more than 2,000 national observers, according to the National Electoral Council (CNE). The 903 people deprived of liberty without a sentence and people who requested assisted voting at home voted early between Thursday and Friday.
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