Everybody seems obsessed about calling her leftist
CBS 42
GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador is likely to choose its next president in a runoff election later this year as early results of a first-round vote Sunday showed a tight difference between conservative President Daniel Noboa and leftist lawyer Luisa González.
Figures released by Ecuador’s National Electoral Council after 66% of ballots were tallied showed Noboa received more than 3.09 million votes, or 44.7%, while González earned over 3.02 million votes, or 43.8%. The 14 other candidates in the race were far behind them.
The election is shaping up to be a repeat of the 2023 race, when voters chose the young millionaire Noboa over the González, the protégée of the country’s most influential president this century.
All of Sunday’s candidates promised voters to reduce the widespread crime that pushed their lives into an unnerving new normal four years ago.
The spike in violence across the South American country is tied to the trafficking of cocaine produced in neighboring Colombia and Peru. So many voters have become crime victims that their personal and collective losses were a determining factor in deciding whether a third president in four years can turn Ecuador around or if Noboa deserves more time in office.
Ecuador’s National Electoral Council reported that more than 83% of the roughly 13.7 million eligible voters cast ballots. Voting is mandatory in Ecuador.
In the port city of Guayaquil, people lined up, initially under light rain and then under a scorching sun, outside a public university where tens of thousands were expected to cast ballots.
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