Quito, Feb 9 (EFE).- Ecuadoran presidential candidate Luisa Gonzalez claimed Sunday to have won Ecuador’s general election following a first round in which results show a deadlock between her and the incumbent Daniel Noboa, who she would have to face in a runoff.
The Vice President of Ecuador, Veronica Abad, votes at a polling station during the presidential and legislative elections in Ecuador, in Cuenca, Ecuador, 9 February 2025. EFE-EPA/Robert Puglla
“We have won,” Gonzalez said to her followers, despite official provisional results in which she appears in second position, with 43.83 percent of the votes, compared to 44.75 percent for Noboa after 69 percent of ballots had been counted.
Electoral witness supervise the counting of votes at the end of the election day in Guayaquil, Ecuador, 09 February 2025. EFE-EPA/Carlos Duran Araujo
The presidential candidate of Citizen Revolution said this result is the best for her party in the last 10 years, and also its best vote in a first round without former President Rafael Correa as candidate.
“We are almost in a technical tie, and we are going to continue growing in votes and Daniel Noboa is going to continue falling,” said Gonzalez, who was defeated by Noboa in the second round of the extraordinary elections of 2023.
“Today Ecuador has won, the country has won, and we are going stronger, because we are going to continue rising,” she said. “We are the big winners. We are facing a presidential candidate who used the State’s assets to campaign.”
“He has violated all legal regulations, he has committed an illicit act by using the State’s assets and resources to campaign for the presidency. That is what we have faced. He has made use of his power to issue decrees to name a new vice president,” she said about Noboa.
Gonzalez said “Noboa represents fear,” adding that her party symbolizes “change and hope, that hope of changing lies for truth, fear for hope, violence for peace.”
“We do not want a state of war, but a state of peace that is built with social justice,” said the candidate, also calling for unity.
More than 13.7 million Ecuadorians were called to the polls Sunday to elect their national authorities for the period 2025-2029, including those who will occupy the presidency and vice presidency, the 151 of parliament and five representatives for the Andean parliament.
The elections were held under the “internal armed conflict” declared since the beginning of 2024 by Noboa to combat organized crime, the main cause of the escalation of violence and insecurity affecting the country, which in 2023 ed the highest homicide rate in Latin America. EFE
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