Ecuador's president Daniel Noboa and the country’s electoral authority said he had secured a full four-year term on Sunday, as his leftist rival Luisa Gonzalez denounced Mr Noboa’s unexpectedly expansive victory as “grotesque” fraud.
Ms Gonzalez told supporters she did not accept the results – a steady 56 per cent support for business heir Mr Noboa (37) compared to her 44 per cent – and that she would demand a recount.
Mr Noboa, who focused his second-round campaign on the populous coastal provinces, which have suffered significant violence, notched the surprising lead of more than a million votes after a tight February first round where he came ahead by just over 16,700.
Ms Gonzalez offered no details of her recount demand when she spoke to supporters on Sunday night, nor did she immediately call for protests.
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Mr Noboa, Ms Gonzalez and her mentor, former president Rafael Correa, had all warned of the potential for fraud ahead of the vote and each candidate had some 45,000 observers from their parties at polling places.
A state of emergency declared by Mr Noboa for security reasons one day before the election restricts mass gatherings in Quito, among other places, for 60 days.
Luis Almagro, the secretary general for the Organisation of American States (OAS), said on X that the declaration of Mr Noboa’s win was consistent with what OAS officials had observed during voting.
Economic handouts and support for flood victims on the coast buoyed Mr Noboa’s vote in the second round, said professor Cristian Carpio, from the University of the Americas in Quito, as did voter fear over a return of Mr Correa’s socialist policies.
“[Noboa] will have to build bridges, the government needs urgently to improve the perception of security,” Mr Carpio said. “Economic management will be key. Ecuador must recover and the government must work on investment, public spending and the electricity provision issue.”
Mr Noboa’s National Democratic Action party has one fewer seat – 66 – than Mr Correa’s Citizens’ Revolution in the legislature.
Neither has a majority, but Mr Noboa’s mother Annabella Azin won a legislature seat with more votes than any other candidate and could be elected the body’s president.
Mr Correa, who was convicted of corruption and sentenced to prison in a case he termed political persecution, has lived in Belgium since he left office in 2017.
Murders, gun smuggling, fuel theft, extortion and other crimes carried out by local criminal groups allied with Mexican cartels and the Albanian mafia have spiked over the last five years in Ecuador. Meanwhile, the economy has struggled to recover post-pandemic and unemployment has risen.
Mr Noboa has been in office for just over 16 months, after beating Ms Gonzalez in the 2023 race to serve out the remainder of his predecessor’s mandate.
He has pledged to continue measures including military deployments, job creation, more seizures of drugs and guns, an increase in tax revenues and efforts to attract more private investment to the oil sector during his full term.
Mr Noboa says his work has already paid dividends, including a 15 per cent reduction in violent deaths last year and potential 4 per cent economic growth this year.
Ms Gonzalez, meanwhile, had argued for more social investment, as well as more well-trained police officers and said Mr Noboa’s policies have not improved the lives of regular Ecuadorians.
Mr Noboa’s full term will begin in May. – Reuters
