In the presidential by-election in Ecuador, South America, center-right candidate Daniel Novoa Asin (35) was elected, defeating left-wing candidate Luisa González (45). When President-elect Novoa takes office, he will become the youngest president in Ecuador’s history.
Ecuador’s Central Election Commission (CNE) announced on the 15th that as a result of the presidential runoff election, based on a counting rate of 90.56%, candidate Novoa of the Action for National Democracy (ADN) received 52.29% of the votes, defeating González’s candidate of the Citizen Revolutionary Movement (RC) (47.71%). did.
President-elect Novoa comes from a conglomerate trading bananas, a representative product of Ecuador. His father, former lawmaker Álvaro Novoa, ran for president five times but failed in all of them. Local daily El Universo commented, “The son has realized the dream that his father could not achieve.”
Local media analyzed the victory of President-elect Novoa, who emerged in politics as a member of the National Assembly for the first time in 2021, as a result of the Ecuadorian people’s demand for political change. President-elect Noboa, a member of the political fringe, did not receive much attention, but he attracted support from young voters by making youth development and especially strengthening public security his top priority.
In Ecuador, as drug gang strife has intensified, security has become very unstable, with murder cases rapidly increasing from 5.84 per 100,000 in 2016 to 26.1 per 100,000 last year. Fernando Villavicencio, the opposition candidate who made anti-corruption a key pledge, was even murdered by a gunman two weeks before the presidential election. For this reason, President-elect Noboa, who campaigned wearing a bulletproof vest throughout the election campaign, attracted attention by making a pledge to build a ‘ship prison on the sea’ to resolve the violence inside the prison. In addition, tax reduction pledges to create jobs and induce investment by attracting foreign companies also received support from the people of Ecuador, one of the poorest countries in South America.
President-elect Noboa’s urgent task is to stabilize the chaotic political situation left behind by former President Guillermo Lasso, who voluntarily resigned when facing the threat of impeachment from Congress. Moreover, the term of office lasts less than two years, until May 2025, the remainder of the former president’s term, and due to procedural issues, the inauguration of the president is only possible in December. As a political newcomer, forming a coalition government with established political parties is also considered a challenge.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.