Polls Opened Early Morning on Sunday in Ecuador, as some 14 million citizens desires Select Their Next President.
Once Regarded As One of the Safest Countries in South America, Ecuador is Experiencing Its Worst Crisis in Half A Century Due to Drug Cartel Violence and a Struggling Economy.
Voters can select from sixteen Candidates, yet incumbent head of state Daniel Noboa and his leftist challenger luisa gonzalez are the Two Frontrunners.
If No Candidate Reaches 50% of the Vote Outright, OR 40% BEING 10 Points Ahead of their Nearest Rival, The Top Two Best Performing Candidates Will Head To A Runoff on April 13.
Both Frontrunners Have Campaigned Under Heavy Protection by Special Forces and Bodyguards, In The Wake Of The Events of the Last Election in 2023 When A Leading Candidate was Assassined.
Noboa Expected to Win
Opinion Polls in Ecuador Point to a Safe Reelection forNoboa The Young President Has Campaigned to Continue His Hardline Policies Against Organized Crime.
“Today Ecuador Has Changed and Wants to Keep Changing, It Wants to Consolidate Its Triumph. We are not a promise anymore, we are a reality in this country, which has been Taken a Decision,” Noboa Said at a Closing Campaign Rally on Thursday in Quito.
Accord to Surveys, Noboa Could Winh More Than 50% of the Vote Or at Least Reach the 40% to Head Into the Runoff, which Polls Show He would certainly such as Likely Win.
For Her Part, Luisa Gonzalez Has So Promified to Tackle Crime With Major Military and Police Operations, by Pursuing Allegedly Corrupt Judges and Prosecutors, yet so with a concentrate on Implementing A Social Spending Plan in the Most Violent Aeas.
“We can’t talk about Controlling Violence with Thinking of Social Justice, of Building to Ecuador with Peace, Not With War,” Said Gonzalez, Who is a protege of the questionable Former Leftist President Rafael Correa.
Drug Trade Violence Plagues Ecuador
Ecuador Has Become a Hub of Drug Trafficking in Recent Years When Drug Market Patterns Changed.
AS Us Drug Users Turned to Opiates, South American Cartels Shifted to Fast-Growing Cocaine Markets in Europe, Australia andAsia
Since after that, Ecuador’s Numerous Pacific Ports in Guayaquil and Manta Have Become a Go- to Route to Ship The Drugs From Jungle Labs in Colombia and Peru to Europe and the Rest of the World.
Turf War’s have actually surged in between competing gangs; The Murder Rate Has Spiked, While Kidnapping and Extortation have actually risen to tape-record highs.
Noboa Declared a State of Emergency, Deploying The Army Across the Country and Gathering Extraordinary Executive Powers to Curb theViolence
But Activists have actually implicated Noboa’s Government and his army Approach as resulting in civils rights Abuses.
The Ecuadorian Government Has Stood by the Policy, Saying That It Has Reduced Deaths BY 15%, Reduced Prison Violence, and Facilitated the Capture of Major Gang Leaders.
Edited by: Louis Oelofse
