Ecuadorian leftist presidential candidate Luisa González before addressing supporters in Quito this Sunday, February 9, 2024. Photo: EFE.
In statements issued on Monday night, Luisa González, Ecuadorian presidential candidate for the Citizen Revolution Movement opposition party (Revolución Ciudadana), expressed confidence that she will win the second round of the elections that will be held in the South American country on April 13. González confronts incumbent President Daniel Noboa.
“We are going to win,” said the presidential candidate in a speech made in Quito to her supporters.
The National Electoral Council (CNE) held a press conference on Sunday in which it said that, if the trends in the counting of votes cast in the elections held this Sunday are confirmed, a runoff will be scheduled for April 13.
According to official figures released in the afternoon of this Monday, President Daniel Noboa and opposition candidate for the Citizen Revolution (RC) party, Luisa González, ended up in a technical tie.
According with the last CNE result update released on Monday, at 6:55 in the afternoon, with 95.1% of the votes counted, Noboa received 44.19%, while Gonzalez received 43.92%. The remainer of the votes were shared among the other 14 presidential candidates who participated in this round. Indigenous leader Leonidas Iza arrived in third place, with 5.29% of the votes.
Citizen Revolution Movement leaders have complained that many of what the CNE calls “voting records with issues,” representing 4.01% of the total votes, correspond to voting centers where Luisa González won. On Monday night, the CNE clarified that those voting records are being recounted and revised and will be incorporated into the total in due time.
Under the country’s electoral law, to avoid a runoff, the winner of Sunday’s election had to receive 50% plus one of the votes or at least 40% with a difference of 10 percentage points above their nearest competitor.
In her speech to her party supporters, González condemned the use of public resources by the Noboa government to promote his candidacy. “More than 100 million dollars used in a campaign, which was not reported to the CNE,” she said.
She said that Noboa “represents fear, and we represent hope, and that hope is what has won at the polls today,” while claiming that statistical analysis show that Noboa’s support tendency is in decline while hers is growing.
“Because I belong to a country that cares about me, that is the country that we are going to build with you, because we are going to win, and we are going to govern for 18 million Ecuadorians. Until victory always, comrades!” concluded González.
In recent hours, many analysts have suggested that an endorsement by one or the other candidate will be decisive in the runoff elections. Iza has taken controversial stands in past elections towards Correismo, represented currently by the Citizen Revolution Movement; however, leftist analysts hope that Leonidas Iza acts according to his anti-imperialist rhetoric and ends up supporting Gonzalez, explicitly or implicitly, for the second round.
National Electoral Council of Ecuador: Presidential Elections to Go to Runoff
Noboa leaves supporters hanging
President Daniel Noboa, for his part, left his supporters hanging after the government had called his supporters to the outskirts of a luxury hotel where he was supposed to celebrate his victory and hold a press conference on Sunday at 6:00 p.m.
Around midnight, his ministers left the place without making any statements, and Noboa never arrived.
(Telesur) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SL
