In the midst of a climate of violence and polarization, Ecuadorians today choose their president

Some 14 million Ecuadorians began to vote this Sunday to choose the next president, in a country bled for the violence of drug trafficking, indebted and divided between the return of the left or the continuity of the current president Daniel Noboa.

The first suffragants came to droppers and warm by the cold of the Andean capital, surrounded by volcanoes already 2,850 meters above sea level. Some police requisitioned their backpacks before entering the electoral schools.

“The main thing to attend (the next president) (…) is a solution to crime, corruption and economy, all those debts that the country has”designer Paula Carrión, 26, told AFP in a voting center in Quito.

Although the ban for the publication of surveys, several firms give as favorites two opposite candidates: Luisa Gonzálezsuccessor of the former socialist president Rafael Correa (2007-2017), and Noboa, the current ruler. Everything indicates that none will have enough room to avoid the ballot of April 13.

Ecuadorians vote in the hope of refloating a country in economic crisis and flooded by the war between a myriad posters faced by the cocaine spoils.

Under the shadow of the murder of a presidential candidate in 2023, the campaigns passed under strong security schemes and proposals focused on curbing violence, which leaves a rate of 38 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants.

“I have had threats (…) there are intelligence reports that say there are risks, that they want to attack my life”Said candidate González to the AFP.

The emergency service warned about “Serious complaints of a possible attack against democracy”without delving into details.

The opening ceremony was held in the National Electoral Council (CNE) in Quito without the assistance of Noboa.

Ecuadorians will exercise the mandatory vote to elect president and vice president of between 16 binomials, 151 assembly members and five Andean parliamentarians.

“The country is falling. The only thing I ask for incoming president is that he fixs how bad it is “says Luis Jaime Torresa 28 -year -old merchant.

Noboa vs. González

In this new electoral duel between Noboa, 37, and González, 47, she goes for revenge and he for re -election. The candidates faced the extraordinary elections of 2023, in which the millionaire businessman became one of the youngest presidents in the world.

This time, the leftist González aspires to be the first elected president in the history of the country.

Heir of a banana magnate, Noboa surprised in 2023 when he was chosen despite his lean political experience.

Won the election to complete the period of Guillermo Lassowho dissolved Congress and called early elections to prevent the legislative from dismissing him in a political trial for corruption.

Very active in social networks, Noboa has become popular as a ruler with an iron hand against the narco, athlete, musician, loving with his family and lover of tattoos.

“Ecuador has already changed and wants to continue changing, wants to consolidate the triumph”Said the president at the closure of the campaign.

His nemesis, González, is a single, tattooed and Christian mother with an agenda that promises more social security and respect for human rights.

“Memecracia”

Experts question the scarce projects of the candidates to face the worst crisis in half a century, with campaigns that are battles cups in social networks fogged by misinformation and the increasingly sophisticated use of artificial intelligence.

“It is a reality, a memecracia and that the only thing that people get out of politics (…) is a society that has lowered their arms.”said the political analyst Leonardo Laso.

Noboa ends a brief but vertiginous mandate. The electricity cuts caused by a historic drought plunged the country in the dark. Mexico broke diplomatic relations with Ecuador for a police incursion into its embassy to stop the asylum former president of Correa, Jorge Glas.

Four children were killed and calcined in Guayaquil (southwest), in a case that enlists military and government security policies criticized as abusive by human rights defenders. The bands showed muscle in prisons with killings and kidnappings.

Ecuadorians resent the ravages of a indebted state with a poverty of 28% and concentrated on financing the expensive war against the narco.

For Laso analyst, spectacular operations against crime project an image of the country that frightens “All investment possibility” and generates “An adverse climate to employment generation”.

Public debt borders 57% of GDP, according to the IMF.

Ecuador’s future is “Desorator, sincerely. You have to vote with conscience “the student Valentina Moncayo, 18.

With AFP information