President-elect Daniel Noboa (left) and Citizen Revolution candidate Luisa González (right). Photo: Hora724/File photo.
The results of the runoff of the presidential elections in Ecuador show the winner as the wealthy heir Daniel Noboa, 35 years old, candidate of the National Democratic Action (ADN) alliance and son of oligarch Álvaro Noboa, who on five occasions sought the Ecuadorian presidency without success. According to data from the National Electoral Council (CNE), with 93.02% of the valid votes counted, Noboa reached 52.21% of the votes (4,983,195), while Luisa González from the Citizen Revolution movement (RC) got 47.79% (4,561,646).
“Ecuador has practically Daniel Noboa Azín as president,” said CNE President Diana Atamaint in a press conference after over 90% of the votes were counted. Noboa obtained the position that his father, Álvaro Noboa, sought five times (1998, 2002, 2006, 2009 and 2013) without success.
“Today, we have made history. Ecuadorian families chose the new Ecuador. They chose a country with security and employment. We are going for a country of realities where promises do not remain in the campaign, and corruption is punished. Thank you, Ecuador,” was the first message of the president-elect on his social media accounts.
Noboa was supported in this process by the ADN alliance, which comprises the People, Equality, and Democracy movements (PID, of Arturo Moreno, cousin of former president Lenín Moreno) and Mover, previously known as Alianza PAIS.
These presidential elections were called after the president of the South American country, Guillermo Lasso, decreed mutual death and dissolved the National Assembly last May.
As these are early elections, Noboa will only govern until May 2025, completing the period that Lasso began in 2021.
Noboa’s profile
Daniel Roy-Gilchrist Noboa Azín, at 35 years old, is the minimum age to run for president. He was born on November 30, 1987 in Guayaquil. He studied business administration at the NYU Stern School of Business, obtained a degree in Public Administration at Harvard Kennedy School, and has a master’s degree in Governance and Political Communication from George Washington University. He is currently married to Lavinia Valbonesi and has two children.
His father, known as Alvarito, is considered one of the wealthiest people in Ecuador, with a fortune exceeding one billion dollars. He is the head of his eponymous corporation, which includes banana businesses, maritime transportation, and real estate, among other areas. In the family company, Daniel Noboa held the position of shipping director. Previously, he was commercial director until June 2018.
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He entered politics in 2021, when he was elected National Assembly deputy for the province of Santa Elena, occupying the position of president of the Economic, Productive and Microenterprise Development Commission. He held that position until last May when Lasso dissolved Parliament.
Recently, the Brazilian media outlet Folha de São Paulo revealed that Noboa controls at least two offshore companies—Lanfranco Holdings SA and Festil Investments SA—in Panama. Ecuador’s Internal Revenue Service (SRI) considers Panama a tax haven.
According to the Organic Law for the Application of the Popular Consultation, also known as the Law of the Ethical Pact, approved after a popular consultation in 2017, candidates for popularly elected public positions are prohibited from “being direct or indirect owners of assets or capital, of any nature, in jurisdictions or regimes considered tax havens.”
Likewise, 21 Ecuadorian organizations condemned the presidential candidate for evading taxes in Ecuador. According to the complaint, based on information from the SRI from 2009 to 2013, Noboa did not make Income Tax declarations. However, he paid $33,578.32 for foreign exchange outflow tax (ISD) in that period. Meanwhile, from 2014 to 2023, he had a “modest” tax payment, “surprisingly” paying $88,491.39 in ISD.
“That is, in 14 years—as recorded in the SRI—candidate Noboa has paid ISD a total of $122,069.71. How much money did he take abroad? He transferred approximately $2.1 million to his foreign accounts,” said the organizations, who consider that “there is a clear case of [tax] evasion.”
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
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