Скачать или смотреть Ecuador voters react to presidential elections as conservative incumbent Noboa hopes for re-election

(9 Feb 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Olon, Ecuador - 09 February 2025
1. President Daniel Noboa arriving at polling station with his wife Lavinia Valbonesi and their two-year-old son, Alvaro
2. Various of Noboa voting
3. Noboa leaving the polling station

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Quito, Ecuador - 09 February 2025
4. Various of people arriving at the electoral precinct to vote
5. Various of people voting
6. People waiting to vote
7. Various of people voting
8. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Hugo Luzuriaga, Voter:
"As a citizen I see that the precinct where I voted is quiet and I hope that people come to vote and that it is a transparent process and that the person with the highest vote out of all the candidates wins."
9. Mid of people
10. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Jose Muñoz, Voter:
"I believe that in these elections, firstly you have to vote super well, thinking more about the future, about the future of Ecuadorians. Because as we have already been several years with presidents, I think the best option is to vote with your head."
11. Various of people voting
12. Various of people at the voting center

STORYLINE:
Ecuador’s presidential election Sunday is shaping up to be a repeat of the 2023 race, when voters chose a young, conservative millionaire over the leftist protégée of the country’s most influential president this century.

President Daniel Noboa and Luisa González are the clear front-runners among the pool of 16 candidates.

All have promised voters to reduce the widespread crime that pushed their lives into an unnerving new normal four years ago.

In addition, 151 assembly members and five parliamentarians will be elected.

More than 41,000 polling stations have been set up in the country and abroad.

Noboa voted early in the morning in the small, coastal town of Olon, where he has his residence.

He was accompanied by his wife Lavinia Valbonesi and their two-year-old son, Alvaro.

After voting, he showed his ballot and left without making any statement.

At least 50 security personnel were guarded the presidential family.

Nationwide, more than 100,000 military and police officers are watching over the elections in a country that for the last four years has been experiencing a spiral of violence caused by criminal organizations linked to drug cartels from Colombia and Mexico.

More than 13.7 million people are eligible to vote.

To win outright, a candidate needs 50% of the vote or at least 40% with a 10-point lead over the closest challenger. If needed, a runoff election would take place on April 13.

Noboa defeated González in the October 2023 runoff of a snap election triggered by the decision of then-President Guillermo Lasso to dissolve the National Assembly and shorten his own mandate as a result.

Noboa and González, a mentee of former President Rafael Correa, had only served short stints as lawmakers before launching their 2023 presidential campaigns.

Noboa, 37, is an heir to a fortune built on the banana trade.

He opened an event organizing company when he was 18 and then joined his father’s Noboa Corp., where he held management positions in the shipping, logistics and commercial areas.

His political career began in 2021, when he won a seat in the National Assembly and chaired its Economic Development Commission.

Under his presidency, the homicide rate dropped from 46.18 per 100,000 people in 2023 to 38.76 per 100,000 people last year. Still, it remains far higher than the 6.85 per 100,000 people in 2019.


She was sentenced to prison in absentia in 2020 in a corruption scandal.






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