Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa has cast doubt on the outcome of the country’s recent presidential race, saying the first-round results appeared to show “irregularities”.
On Tuesday, Noboa gave an interview to Ecuador’s Radio Centro in which he expressed scepticism about the results, though he failed to offer proof of any malfeasance.
“There have been many irregularities, and we are still counting,” Noboa said. “We are still checking in certain provinces where there were things that did not add up.”
But independent election observers quickly fired back that there appeared to be no discrepancies with the voting tally.
The Organization of American States (OAS) sent a mission to observe Sunday’s election. It said its data confirmed the official results, within a margin of error.
“The mission, to date, has not identified or received indications of widespread irregularities that could alter the results of the election,” the OAS wrote in a statement.
“At the same time, it invites any complaint to be filed with the relevant authorities.”
Another election transparency group, sent by the European Union, responded with a similar statement.
“We do not have a single objective element that there was any type of fraud,” said Gabriel Mato, a member of the European Parliament involved in Ecuador’s election monitoring.
Mato noted that both Noboa and his left-wing rival, Luisa Gonzalez, had expressed reservations about the accuracy of the results.
The first round of voting ended with the two candidates in a virtual tie, each receiving approximately 44 percent of the ballots. That meant they would proceed to a run-off.
“I deeply regret that, in addition to misinformation, there has been a certain narrative of fraud in these elections,” Mato said. “There is no objective evidence to support this accusation or narrative.”
A history of butting heads
Noboa and Gonzalez are longtime adversaries on the campaign trail. They first went head-to-head in 2023, after then-President Guillermo Lasso invoked a never-before-used constitutional mechanism called the “muerte cruzada” or “crossed death”.
That dissolved the National Assembly and ended Lasso’s presidency early. A snap election was called to determine who would serve the remainder of Lasso’s term: a period of 18 months.
The son of a wealthy banana industry baron, Noboa had been a first-term assembly person until the dissolution of the legislature.
Leading a newly created centre-right political coalition, Noboa entered the crowded race to replace Lasso as a dark horse – an unlikely prospect. The frontrunner at the time was Gonzalez, the protege of former President Rafael Correa, a divisive figure in Ecuadorian politics.
Correa has faced corruption charges and has been sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison. He currently lives in exile in Belgium.
The 2023 race ended with Gonzalez and Noboa competing against each other in a run-off election, which Noboa ultimately won. He received 52 percent of the vote to Gonzalez’s 48.
But the two have remained fierce critics of one another, leading to Sunday’s rematch in the 2025 general elections. If successful in his re-election bid, Noboa would win his first full term of four years.
In Tuesday’s interview with Radio Centro, Noboa took jabs at Gonzalez’s Citizen Revolution party, accusing its members of releasing criminals from Ecuador’s jails to influence the vote.
Meanwhile, he praised his voters for heading to the polls, despite what he described as “threats” against them.
“I am proud of the way in which the great majority of Ecuadorians behaved in these elections. Despite thousands of threats, they decided to vote for progress,” he said.
While Noboa added that he had evidence for his allegations, none was provided.
Gonzalez, meanwhile, blasted Noboa’s implication that her votes were won through criminality.
“The voters of the [Citizen Revolution] ARE NEITHER NARCOS NOR CRIMINALS,” she posted on social media.
She highlighted the fact that Noboa had failed to tamp down on Ecuador’s rising crime rates, despite heavy-handed tactics that critics said led to human rights abuses.
Gonzalez also blasted Noboa for campaign irregularities: The president’s decision to campaign for re-election while delegating authority to an interim vice president was recently declared unconstitutional.
Even former President Correa weighed in on social media. “What bad losers!” Correa said of Noboa and his allies.
Both Noboa and Gonzalez advance to a second round of voting on April 13.
