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Associated Press

Daniel Noboa, an inexperienced politician and an heir to a fortune built on the banana trade, won Ecuador’s presidential run-off election held amid unprecedented violence that even claimed the life of a candidate.
With about 96 per cent of the votes counted on Sunday, electoral officials said Noboa had 52.2 per cent of the votes, compared to 47.8 per cent for Luisa González, a leftist lawyer and ally of exiled former President Rafael Correa.
Gonzalez conceded defeat during a speech before supporters Sunday night and said she planned to call Noboa to congratulate him.
Noboa, 35, will lead Ecuador during a period marked by unprecedented violence that even claimed the life of a presidential candidate.

Noboa, Ecuador’s youngest-ever president-elect, vowed that “tomorrow we begin work to rebuild a country that has been severely hit by violence, corruption and hatred”.
Throughout the campaign, Ecuadorians, who now have to continuously watch their backs and limit how often they leave home, had a universal demand – safety.
Ecuador officials removed after killing of suspects in candidate’s assassination
The nationwide uneasiness began when violence erupted about three years ago, but it reached an unthinkable level when Fernando Villavicencio was killed August 9 as he left a campaign rally.
Noboa’s political career began in 2021, when he earned a seat in the National Assembly and chaired its Economic Development Commission. The US-educated businessman opened an event organising company when he was 18 and then joined his father’s Noboa Corp, where he held management positions in the shipping, logistics and commercial areas.
His father, Alvaro Noboa, is the richest man in Ecuador thanks to a conglomerate that started in the growing and shipping of bananas -Ecuador’s main crop – and now includes more than 128 companies in dozens of countries. The elder Noboa unsuccessfully ran for president five times.
The new president’s term will run only through May 2025, which is what remains of the tenure of President Guillermo Lasso. He cut his term short when he dissolved the country’s National Assembly in May as lawmakers carried out impeachment proceedings against him over alleged improprieties in a contract by a state-owned company.
Lasso, a conservative former banker, clashed constantly with lawmakers after his election in 2021 and decided not to run in the special election.
Under Lasso’s watch, violent deaths soared, reaching 4,600 in 2022, the country’s highest in history and double the total in 2021. The National Police tallied 3,568 violent deaths in the first half of 2023.


The spike in violence is tied to cocaine trafficking. Mexican, Colombian and Balkan cartels have set roots in Ecuador and operate with assistance from local criminal gangs.
Noboa and Gonzalez, both of whom have served short stints as lawmakers, advanced to the run-off by finishing ahead of six other candidates in the election’s first round on August 22. The replacement of Villavicencio finished in third place.
A large group of military and police officers as well as private security guards protected Noboa when he voted in Olon, a community on the country’s central Pacific coast. He wore a bulletproof vest.
How Ecuador became one of the most violent countries in Latin America
“I believe that the trend is irreversible, and today, we begin to build a new Ecuador,” he said at the voting centre, confidently alluding to a victory.
Gonzalez, a lawyer, was unknown to most voters until the party of Correa, her mentor, picked her as its presidential candidate. She held various government jobs during Correa’s decade-long presidency and was a lawmaker from 2021 until May.
At the start of the campaign, she said Correa would be her adviser, but she recently sought to distance herself a bit in an effort to court voters who oppose the former president, who remains a major force in Ecuador despite being found guilty of corruption in 2020 and sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison. He has been living in his wife’s native Belgium since 2017.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse


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Americas and the Caribbean

Ecuador presidential election: Daniel Noboa, heir to banana fortune, wins run-off vote

Daniel Noboa, 35, will lead Ecuador during a period marked by unprecedented violence. Photo: Reuters 

Luisa González and Daniel Noboa wearing bulletproof vests while voting. Photo: AFP

Ecuador removes top security officials after killings of 7 suspects linked to presidential candidate’s assassination

Soldiers at a prison in Guayaquil, Ecuador. A seventh Colombian suspected in the assassination of Ecuador presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio died in Quito’s El Inca prison on Saturday. Photo: AFP

Ecuadorean presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was killed after he left a campaign event in August. Photo: Reuters

Car bombs rock Ecuador’s capital as prisoners hold 57 guards, police hostage

Firefighters at the scene of a car explosion in Quito, Ecuador. Photo: Reuters

Prisoners on the roof of the Turi jail where dozens of guards have been kidnapped by inmates, in Cuenca, Ecuador. Photo: AP

People take cover at a rally where Ecuadorean presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was shot dead in August. Photo: AFP

Run-off in violence-torn Ecuador to pit Correa ally against son of banana tycoon

A soldier guards a polling station in Quito, Ecuador. Photo: AP

Ecuadorean presidential candidate Luisa Gonzalez. Photo: Reuters

People take cover after shots were fired at the end of a rally of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio in Quito on August 9. Photo: AFP

How Ecuador became one of the most violent countries in Latin America

Relatives and friends of slain Ecuadorean presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio attend his funeral in Quito on Friday. Photo; AFP

Armed forces transfer the criminal leader Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, known as “Fito”, to a maximum security prison in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Photo: Handout via Reuters

Police officers gather confiscated material during a joint operation with the armed forces at a prison in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on Saturday. Photo: AFP

News

World

Americas

Banana empire heir Daniel Noboa, 35, is Ecuador’s youngest-ever president-elect
He pledged to restore order in a nation torn by ‘violence, corruption and hatred’


Daniel Noboa, Ecuador’s youngest-ever president-elect, pledged to restore order in a nation torn by ‘violence, corruption and hatred’.


Crime

AVIC

Ecuador

Ecuador presidential election: Daniel Noboa, heir to banana fortune, wins run-off vote

Banana empire heir Daniel Noboa, 35, is Ecuador’s youngest-ever president-elect He pledged to restore order in a nation torn by ‘violence, corruption and hatred’

Banana empire heir Daniel Noboa, 35, is Ecuador’s youngest-ever president-elect

He pledged to restore order in a nation torn by ‘violence, corruption and hatred’