Voters in Ecuador are casting their ballots in a presidential runoff election between conservative incumbent Daniel Noboa and leftist lawyer Luisa Gonz\u00e1lez \u2013 a race overshadowed by drug-fueled violence that has consumed the once-peaceful South American country. <\/p>\n
\u201cTranquility \u2026 is the most important thing for the country because there is a lot of insecurity,\u201d one voter said. <\/p>\n
\u201cSecurity is in pieces,\u201d another voter said, adding that she hopes whoever wins will keep their promise to tackle violence. <\/p>\n
Polls opened at 8 a.m. ET and are scheduled to close at 6 p.m. The first results are expected to be announced a few hours after that. <\/p>\n
This is the latest electoral contest between the two candidates. In the 2023 snap election, Noboa defeated Gonz\u00e1lez with just over 50 percent of the vote. <\/p>\n
Noboa, who won a special election in 2023 to complete his predecessor\u2019s term, is seeking a full four-year term to continue his controversial war on gangs and drug traffickers, which has so far had limited results. <\/p>\n
The 37-year-old leader has declared numerous states of emergency, deployed military units to tackle gang activity, and began construction on a new maximum-security prison after an infamous criminal leader escaped from custody last year. <\/p>\n
But according to figures from the government, the start to the year has seen an unprecedented level of violence with more than 1,000 homicides. Data from organized crime research center InSight Crime suggests Ecuador has the highest homicide rate in Latin America. <\/p>\n
Gonz\u00e1lez, a prot\u00e9g\u00e9 of Ecuador\u2019s left-wing former President Rafael Correa, is offering an alternative model for security based on what her party describes as \u201cprevention, violence reduction and coexistence.\u201d <\/p>\n
Running on a campaign to \u201cRevive Ecuador,\u201d Gonz\u00e1lez is also proposing a return to high social spending to help the country\u2019s poorest citizens. She says her party represents hope and transformation, arguing that \u201cNoboa represents fear.\u201d <\/p>\n
Both candidates cast their ballots on Sunday morning, with Noboa guaranteeing a victory. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll win today. Today is a very important day for Ecuador,\u201d he said in brief remarks to the press. <\/p>\n
Gonz\u00e1lez, meanwhile, promised to defend democracy as she cast her vote. <\/p>\n
\u201cWith all the faith, the homeland \u2026 with all the conviction of serving a country. And through that change, today we will change the history of Ecuador,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Voters in Ecuador are casting their ballots in a presidential runoff election between conservative incumbent Daniel Noboa and leftist lawyer Luisa Gonz\u00e1lez \u2013 a race overshadowed by drug-fueled violence that has consumed the once-peaceful South American country. \u201cTranquility \u2026 is the most important thing for the country because there is a lot of insecurity,\u201d one <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15331,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15330","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}