QUITO, Oct. 16 (CNN) - Center-right candidate Daniel Noboa, the 35-year-old son of a banana tycoon, is on track to become Ecuador’s next president, following an election driven by concerns over rising violence and a worsening security situation in the Latin American nation.
More than 10 million people have voted in the presidential election, and data from the National Electoral Council of Ecuador (CNE) shows Noboa obtained 52.3% of the votes (4,829,130).
His main political rival, leftist candidate and first round front-runner Luisa González, obtained 47.7% of votes (4,404,014), the CNE said.
Noboa was a lawmaker before outgoing President Guillermo Lasso dissolved the legislature and called for early elections.
The Acción Democrática Nacional party’s candidate, he has pledged to create more work opportunities for the young, bring in more foreign investment, using technology to fight crime, and has suggested several anti-corruption measures including sentences for tax evasion.
González of the Movimiento Revolución Ciudadana party, a protégé of former leftist President Rafael Correa, ran on a promise to enhance public spending and social programs and wants to address the security crisis by fixing the root causes of violence, such as poverty and inequality.
González was the frontrunner in the first round of voting.
Security was tight throughout Sunday’s vote with tens of thousands of police officers and army personnel stationed at polling stations across the country.
Crime remained at the forefront of Ecuador’s run-off vote, months after the high-profile assassination of another presidential candidate, Fernando Villavicencio, who was slain days before the August 20 first-round poll.
The killing became a tragic symbol of the country’s worsening security situation, where rival criminal organizations have been meting out brutal and often public shows of violence in the country’s streets and prisons in their battle to control drug trafficking routes.
Voter turnout was “historic” at 82.33% despite initial security concerns, Ecuador’s National Electoral Council president Diana Atamaint said after polls closed Sunday. “We will inform the country of the first results as the votes are processed,” she said.
Earlier Sunday, Atamaint said voting was going “smoothly” in 90% of the electoral precincts but alluded to irregularities in the remaining precincts. Authorities have been asked to investigate a social media video that allegedly shows ballots being marked in favor a candidate in the northeastern Sucumbios province, she added.
Ecuador’s Interior Minister Juan Zapata also assured the country in a news conference that there had been no security incidents to report.
Photo from CNN
