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Ecuador is voting today, April 13, 2025, in the final round of its presidential election. The two candidates are the current president, Daniel Noboa, and the left-wing challenger, Luisa González.
In the first round, they were almost tied—each got about 44% of the vote, with only 16,000 votes between them. The race is very close.
President Noboa became popular for using the army against criminal gangs. He called it an “internal war.” His team says violence is down 15%, but Ecuador still has the highest murder rate in Latin America.
People are also unhappy about power blackouts caused by the drought of late 2024, a shrinking economy, and more poverty. Some worry that Noboa is acting like a dictator. He even sent soldiers into the Mexican embassy to arrest an alleged political criminal who was seeking asylum there.
Luisa González wants to bring back the social programs from Rafael Correa’s time as president. She says she’ll add 20,000 new police officers, give out basic income, and have the government take more control of the economy. If she wins, she’ll be the first woman ever elected president in Ecuador.
The election is tense. Both sides are worried about fraud and have sent many people to watch the vote. The results are expected later tonight.
Voting is mandatory in Ecuador, but there have been some concerns in recent days regarding access to the polls in some counties due to heavy rains causing landslides and impassable roads. Under normal circumstances Ecuadorians are fined if they don’t vote, but there may be a free pass for voters in rain affected areas. It is not known how this might affect the final result.
From Friday midday sales of alcohol are forbidden in Ecuador until after the voting is over. The intention of this law is to reduce the probability of election-related violence.
All seemed calm and orderly this morning in Ecuador, with many voters getting up very early to travel by crowded buses to their hometowns to vote. Voting began at 7:00 am.
One voter, Marcia Marquez of Cuenca, said: “I had to get up really early to travel, but the voting process was pretty quick and I was soon on the bus on the way home.”
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