Presidential election in Ecuador | A “face-to-face” meeting to curb insecurity

(Quito) Ecuadorians vote 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 summarized on Sunday morning by the daily Primiciaswill lead either to the election of the first woman at the head of the South American country, Luisa Gonzalez, or to that of the youngest president in its modern history, Daniel Noboa, son of a wealthy businessman, banana tycoon.

This day, “unprecedented in the democratic history of our country”, with a president designated until 2025, took place during the morning in “absolute normality”, indicated the president of the electoral council (CNE), Diana Atamaint.

Voting will close at 5 p.m. (6 p.m. Eastern Time). It takes place under the surveillance of nearly 100,000 military and police officers in total, who ensure the security of the 4,390 polling stations. The first results will be published from 6:30 p.m. and the winner will be known the same evening, according to the president of the CNE.

The yoke of the “gangs”

Front 1^er The August 20 round was marked by the assassination – which traumatized the country – of one of the main candidates, a former journalist with a strong anti-corruption message. For Primiciasthe election takes place “in a context of insecurity and political violence imposed by gangs linked to international organized crime”.

This theme of insecurity comes up like a leitmotif among all the voters questioned, followed by that of unemployment.

“This is a critical election, the future of the country is at stake. What concerns us most is the issue of insecurity and crime. The other is the economy,” commented Freddy Escobar, 49, at the entrance to a polling station in Quito.

“The insecurity is what saddens us the most, it can’t go on like this,” adds Jhovanny Velasco, a 53-year-old driver in the north of Quito. “Security, employment, health, education… the new president will have a complicated job,” predicted Cristian Chacahuasay, 27 years old.

Bulletproof vest on the torso and surrounded by a heavy security device, M^me Gonzalez voted around 9 a.m. in his town of Canuto (southwest). “May Ecuador triumph, and may “Citizen’s Revolution” win,” she said, citing the name of her political party.

All smiles, also in a bulletproof vest, his opponent Daniel Noboa voted at the end of the morning in Olon, in his stronghold of Santa Elena (southwest). “Today we win,” he said.

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 on Sunday The Universe.

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”, “good for all”…

16 months of mandate

But the newly elected will only have 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 against a backdrop of accusations of corruption.

By all accounts, the new leader will inherit a country plunged into an unprecedented wave of violence, which suffers from endemic corruption and weakened institutions.

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.

According to the Ecuadorian Organized Crime Observer, at least 3,600 people have been murdered since the start of the year, while the homicide rate has doubled and continues to skyrocket.

The shadow of former President Rafael Correa (2007-2017), in exile after being convicted of corruption by the Ecuadorian justice system, hangs over the candidacy of Mr.^me Gonzalez, who has already announced that she will make him her advisor.

This second round is taking place against a backdrop of polarization between a minority Corréist bloc and a very fragmented political spectrum. No force or party has an absolute majority in the National Assembly. The party of M^me Gonzalez is the leading force there, with 48 seats out of 137. Mr. Noboa has 13 deputies.