With fireworks and car horns, Ecuadorians celebrated the victory in Quito, one of the worst setbacks for Correism, which lost a presidential election for the second consecutive time after years of popularity.
“Tomorrow we begin to work for this new Ecuador (…) to rebuild a country that has been seriously hit by violence, corruption and hatred,” said the president-elect from his home in Olón (southwest).
Until a few months ago, almost unknown in politics, Noboa assured that he will seek to “return peace” to the country.
González acknowledged his defeat and congratulated the new president who came to power with the support of right-wing forces, despite defining himself as center-left.
Although the day passed without incident, the candidates voted with bulletproof vests, guards with rifles and a unanimous cry: to stop violence in the country of 16.9 million inhabitants.
In recent years, Ecuador has become a center of operations for drug cartels with international tentacles that impose a regime of terror and leave thousands dead.
The National Electoral Council (CNE) confirmed Noboa’s victory and registered a participation of 82.33% of the 13.4 million Ecuadorians who were called to exercise the mandatory vote.
Some 100,000 military and police officers are deployed throughout the country to ensure security.
fleeting presidency
Noboa will govern Ecuador for almost 17 months, until the end of the term of right-wing President Guillermo Lasso, who dissolved Congress and called early elections to avoid dismissal in a political trial for corruption.
Experts consider that the new mandate will be a kind of pre-campaign for the four-year election in 2025.
“Today we won!” Noboa had anticipated with his fist raised after voting. Political violence marred the campaign: eight political leaders were murdered.
Fernando Villavicencio, one of the presidential favorites for the first round on August 20, was shot as he left a rally in Quito a few days before the elections. Later, seven of the prisoners involved in his crime were murdered in different prisons.
González and Noboa had committed themselves to fighting crime and drug gangs. Between 2018 and 2022, homicides quadrupled and rose to 26 per 100,000 inhabitants. This year, experts estimate that they will rise to 40.
Gangs linked to Mexican and Colombian cartels clash over the drug business and use prisons as logistics offices, where bloody massacres have occurred. Since 2021, more than 460 inmates have died in these clashes.