Ecuadorians go to the polls on Sunday in a vote seen as a referendum on a “war on drugs” offensive that has led to numerous human rights violations, as the incumbent Daniel Noboa faces the leftist Luisa González in a tightly contested runoff.
Noboa, 37, edged out González, 47, in the first round in February by just 16,746 votes (0.17%) from a 13.7 million electorate.
Polls now indicate a statistical tie in the rematch of Ecuador’s 2023 runoff, when the then little-known heir to a banana fortune unexpectedly won a snap election to complete the term of former president Guillermo Lasso, who had dissolved Congress and stepped down to avoid impeachment.
In his first months in office, Noboa declared an “internal armed conflict” and placed the armed forces at the centre of his mano dura (iron fist) policy against drug-trafficking gangs.
After an initial drop in crime, reports of human rights violations mounted, and violence levels soon returned to previous highs: Ecuador still has the highest homicide rate in Latin America, and the figures for January and February are the highest on record.
Last month, one of the most violent massacres in the country’s history took place in Socio Vivienda II, an impoverished neighbourhood in north-west Guayaquil, when 22 people were killed in a confrontation between rival gang factions.
“Everything is worse now,” said María, a Socio Vivienda II resident who asked not to be identified by her full name. “We’ve been abandoned by the state and left without the rule of law,” she said, adding that dozens of residents still had not been able to return home because of ongoing fighting.
But violence is far from the only issue affecting Noboa’s popularity. An energy crisis led to scheduled blackouts of up to 14 hours, GDP fell by 1.5% and the poverty rate rose from 26% to 28% between 2023 and 2024.
“Life has become unbearable,” said María. “You only eat once a day, and then you have to save a little for the afternoon so the children have something to eat. We just want to live with dignity,” she added.
Read more at
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/13/ecuador-presidential-runoff-election-noboa-gonzalez
