The Ecuadorians go to the polls on Sunday (13) for a second round in the presidential elections, choosing from the right-wing president, Daniel Noboa, and candidate Luisa González of the Left Party led by former President Rafael Correa, while the country fights a security crisis.
The first round of the vote in February ended with an almost draw between the two candidates.
The ballot boxes at Ecuador open at 9am this Sunday, Brasília time, and close at 19h. The first results of the vote should leave at 10pm.
According to the National Electoral Council (CNE), more than 13 million citizens are able to vote, including Ecuadorians living abroad.
In this electoral process, the President and the Vice-President of the Republic will be elected for the term of 2025-2029.
The dispute is between current President Daniel Noboa of the National Democratic Action (DNA), and Luisa González, candidate of the Citizen Revolution Movement and an important figure of the opposition.
In the first round, Noboa got 44.15% of the votes, beating Luisa González, who got 44%. The difference between the two candidates was 0.15 percentage point, leaving the result open and generating high expectation for the second round.
In Ecuador the vote is mandatory for citizens between 18 and 65 years registered in the electoral register. For those aged 16 to 18 and over 65 the vote is optional. Those who do not attend the electoral sections, as established by law, shall pay a fine equivalent to 15% of the unified base salary.
Voters face an important election that will define the country’s course in the coming years. With different proposals on economics, security and governance, Daniel Noboa and Luisa González are representing two distinct political approaches.
Who are the candidates?

Noboa, 37, the son of one of Ecuador’s richest businessmen, born in the United States and graduated in Harvard, became president after a surprising victory in 2023, when he defeated González in the second round.
Noboa is heir to the banana tycoon and five times presidential candidate Álvaro Noboa, owner of one of Ecuador’s greatest fortunes, and said he identifies himself particularly with US President Donald Trump.
Throughout his first term, critics claim that Noboa violated political norms by ordering security forces to invade the Mexican embassy to arrest Jorge Glas, former vice-president of Rafael Correa, accused of corruption. The breach of the diplomatic protocol led Mexico to break relations with Ecuador.
Noboa exceeded the legal limits of the position, starting and overcoming a referendum to expand their security powers in April 2024. A fundamental part of the security strategy was the sending of military to Ecuador prisons, which criminal groups in the country have controlled impunity for years.
As for the economy, Noboa has been strongly supported by proposals such as cash payments and forgiveness of debt to farmers affected by natural disasters.

Already Luisa González, 47, announced that, if elected president, he will restore relations with Mexico and Venezuela. Mexico’s current president Claudia Sheinbaum expressed her wish that González becomes the first woman to win the presidency, as she did in Mexico.
González based his campaign on “Revitalize Ecuador”, focusing on the return of a more statist policy and focused on the redistribution of the presidency of Correa.
Currently exiled in Belgium, Rafael Correa remains a popular figure in Ecuadorian politics, despite the allegations of corruption during his presidency. In 2020, an Ecuadorian court sentenced the former president to eight years in prison by bribing to default, an accusation he repeatedly denied.
González took some measures to distance himself from him. In an interview with CNN Just before the first round, she emphasized that if she won, she would be in charge – not her mentor.
“I’m the president of my party,” said González, “It’s me who leads my campaign – it’s my government plan and my plans for the public. So who will govern? It will be Luisa (González),” he said.
The country has faced various energy cuts linked to the El Niño phenomenon, which dries the rivers that supply the hydroelectric plants. In response, González requested greater government intervention in the Ecuador’s power grid.
She also publicly denied that she would negotiate with criminals. The party’s plan states that the government will strive to create a “new model” of security based on “prevention, reduction of violence and coexistence.”
However, anyone who wins the elections will not have an easy government: neither the DNA nor the Citizen Revolution Movement obtained the majority in the first round assembly, and although they are the two main political forces, both will have to negotiate and forge alliances to approve laws and reforms.
A possible fight ahead
After the election was transferred to the second round in February, both candidates claimed, without proof, that the vote was possibly fraudulent.
Both candidates ended their campaigns on Thursday (10) in a final attempt to mobilize voters before Sunday’s election. After the tight first round results, Daniel Noboa and Luisa González insisted that they will increase the control of the ballot box to avoid irregularities.
The Electoral Council said it will guarantee transparency in the counting of the votes, although it will not perform a rapid count due to existing polarization.
About 92,000 delegates of political movements are allowed to monitor the votes. National and international observers will be added, as well as about 100,000 members of the Armed Forces and the police, who will accompany the event amid the state of internal armed conflict declared in the country for over a year.
Ecuador is experiencing a period of great political and social uncertainty in the final stretch of presidential elections.
In a context marked by a growing security crisis, the country faces one of the most disputed electoral processes in recent years.
In addition to security challenges, the next government – which will take office on May 24 – will have to face crucial challenges such as the energy crisis, the economic recovery, the fight against corruption and the revision of diplomatic relations, among others.

A wave of endless crimes
The growing drug trafficking in recent years caused Ecuador to have the highest homicide rate in Latin America in 2023, according to Insight Crime.
The rate fell slightly in 2024, but violence continues, as criminal groups adapted and fragmented after government repression.
Noboa tried to solve the problem by force, adopting a firm approach to fighting the crime.
Shortly after assuming power in 2023, the country suffered two consecutive emergencies: a famous gang leader escaped from prison; Days later, a group of gunmen broke into a large TV station and made the staff hostage.
In response, Noboa declared the first of several emergency states and “internal armed conflict” in Ecuador, telling Christiane Amanpour of CNN that he had “declared war on the terrorists” in the fight against gangs.
To contain the wave of crimes, Noboa openly requested the help of foreign governments and companies, especially from the United States.
In March, he announced a “strategic alliance” to combat organized crime with Erik Prince, founder of the controversial private defense company previously known as Blackwater.
Documents obtained by CNN They show that the president is preparing to house US military forces on a new naval base on the Ecuadorian coast.
Correa had terminated the US Navy’s lease agreement on a similar base and banned foreign military bases in the country when Ecuador rewritten its constitution in 2008. Noboa proposed to suspend the ban.
The US presence in Ecuador is a point of discord between Noboa and González, which opposes foreign intervention in the country’s security issues.
In addition to the wave of crime, Ecuadorians face a fragile economy. Isabel Chiriboga, an expert in Latin America at Think Tank Apartisan Atlantic Council, wrote in February that the next president will have to manage an “collapse” economy.
With information from CNN Spanish.
This content was originally published in Ecuador chooses new president this Sunday (13); Understand on CNN Brazil.
Source: CNN Brasil

Bruce Belcher is a seasoned author with over 5 years of experience in world news. He writes for online news websites and provides in-depth analysis on the world stock market. Bruce is known for his insightful perspectives and commitment to keeping the public informed.