(Bloomberg) — Ecuador’s 37-year-old leader Daniel Noboa is seeking reelection on Sunday with out-of-control gang violence the top issue for voters.
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He’s facing socialist challenger Luisa González and fifteen other candidates. Polls were open from 7 a.m to 5 p.m. local time, and the ballot count is now underway.
Investors have bid up the price of the nation’s sovereign bonds in recent weeks in the belief that market-friendly Noboa had a good chance of a first round victory. Opinion polls showed there was also a strong chance that González could force him into a runoff, which would be held on April 13.
To win, a candidate needs more than 50% of the vote, or at least 40% with a 10-point lead over the runner up, with spoiled or empty ballots not counting.
Voters are also electing all 151 representatives of Ecuador’s National Assembly. The first results are expected around 7.30-8.30 p.m. local time.
Ecuador was close to total chaos when Noboa took over as interim president in 2023, and remains in deep trouble fourteen months later. The economy probably shrank for four straight quarters last year, and gang hitmen made January the country’s bloodiest month on record according to police data obtained by local newspaper El Universo.
Noboa, the wealthy son of a banana-exporting family, was one of only three Latin American presidents to attend Donald Trump’s inauguration. He has pledged to persist with the war he declared on organized crime that saw him send the military into the streets and into the gang-controlled prison system.
González, a former lawmaker, called for a strong welfare state and more investment in public works programs. However, she is conservative on some social questions, and has spoken out against abortion, including for victims of rape. Investors are wary of her Citizen Revolution party since her mentor Rafael Correa defaulted on the nation’s debt in 2008.
Ecuador’s benchmark dollar bonds have returned 102% since Noboa came to power as he used a boost in his popularity from a security crackdown to push through an increase in value added tax and phase out gasoline subsidies, which helped pave the way for a $4 billion deal with the International Monetary Fund.
Voting went ahead normally without any significant problems, the electoral authority said.
