Early results from Ecuador\u2019s referendum suggest President Daniel Noboa has won public backing for security measures aimed at boosting his war on crime. <\/p>\n
His government looks on track to win support for nine of the 11 proposals it put forward in Sunday\u2019s vote, including for four of its key security measures, according to data from the National Electoral Council (CNE). <\/p>\n
And the good news for Noboa was compounded Monday when police announced they had arrested a notorious alleged gang leader. <\/p>\n
Early results from the referendum suggest 72% of the public approve of allowing the military to patrol with police to combat organized crime (something that can presently only happen under a state of emergency) and 65% back allowing the extradition of Ecuadorians under certain conditions (among them, guarantees of humane treatment and no use of the death penalty). <\/p>\n
Both those proposals would require modifying Ecuador\u2019s Constitution, which currently forbids the extradition of Ecuadorians under any circumstances. If the final results of the vote continue to show public backing for these measures, they will go into effect as soon as they are published in the official registry. It is unclear exactly when this would happen. <\/p>\n
Two other security-related proposals \u2013 harsher prison sentences for some violent crimes and the establishment of a permanent armed forces presence in prisons to prevent weapons smuggling \u2013 also look on track to receive wide approval margins. These two proposals would not require changing the Constitution and will need the agreement of the National Assembly before they can go into effect. <\/p>\n
The two measures that look likely to be rejected by the public are to allow workers to be contracted by the hour and to recognize international arbitrage to resolve investment disputes. <\/p>\n
The early results will be seen as a win for Noboa, who swept into office last November as the youngest president in Ecuador\u2019s history on the back of a promise to rein in the rampant crime that has transformed the once tranquil country into one plagued by drug cartel violence. <\/p>\n
Since he came to office he has embarked on an uncompromising agenda in which he has declared \u201cwar\u201d on more than 20 criminal gangs he has labeled as \u201cterrorists,\u201d declared a 90-day state of emergency, and authorized a highly controversial raid on the Mexican embassy in Quito to capture a fugitive Ecuadorian former vice president accused of corruption. <\/p>\n
It was Ecuadorians\u2019 growing discontent with the deteriorating security conditions that led Noboa\u2019s predecessor Guillermo Lasso to call a snap election last year. <\/p>\n
On Sunday, as an estimated 13 million Ecuadorians headed to the polls for the referendum, the country\u2019s national prisons agency announced the director of the Manabi region prison had been killed in an attack. <\/p>\n
In another boost for Noboa, police said in a post on X that they had arrested notorious alleged gang leader Fabricio Colon Pico on Monday morning. <\/p>\n