GlobalWide News
The Washington Post: Ecuador is facing a pivotal presidential election amidst unprecedented violence and drug trafficking issues. Voters have a choice between two distinct candidates: Daniel Noboa, a 35-year-old center-right businessman, and Luisa González, a leftist former lawmaker. Both candidates offer different approaches to tackle the country’s problems. Noboa, who has a slight lead in recent polls, aims to overhaul the country’s prison authority and establish a centralized intelligence unit. González proposes to restore certain ministries from the era of former president Rafael Correa and focus on the root causes of crime through social programs.
The election comes after the killing of a presidential candidate, Fernando Villavicencio, and increasing drug-related violence that has made Ecuador a transit point for cocaine trafficking to the U.S. and Europe. The winner will fill the final 18 months of the term of President Guillermo Lasso, who avoided impeachment by dissolving the legislature and thus mandated a new election within six months. Both candidates would make history if elected—González as the first female president and Noboa as the youngest.
The election also serves as a referendum on the polarizing figure of former president Correa, convicted of corruption but also praised for combating inequality. The new president faces the daunting task of restoring order and will likely be under intense scrutiny, making it what some experts call “the worst job in Latin America for the next year and a half.”
The entire article can be read at the link https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/15/ecuador-election-gonzalez-noboa-correa/
