Ecuador chooses new presidents for violence and power failures

Ecuador chooses new presidents for violence and power failures

The voters in Ecuador are faced with the challenge of choosing a new president again, for the second time within 18 months. This is done in the context of an unprecedented security crisis in the country. The incumbent President Daniel Noboa, son of a banana tycoon, was elected in 2023 to end the term of office of his predecessor Guillermo Lasso, who had resigned, had resolved Parliament and triggered new elections to avoid an office.

who is Daniel Noboa?

The 37-year-old entrepreneur Noboa was the surprise candidate of the 2023 election and prevailed against his rival Luisa González in the second ballot. During the election campaign, he tried to profile himself as "left -liberal", but had a tough course in the fight against crime during his short term.

Noboa said numerous emergency stands that military units to combat gang activities on the streets and began the construction of a new high -security prison after a notorious criminal leader escaped from custody. "I explained the war against terrorists," said Noboa recently in an interview with CNN. "These are not conventional gangs, but terrorist groups that are well organized and structured and terrorize entire regions."

the political competition

At the election on Sunday, Noboa will compete against the left politician González and 14 other candidates. If no candidate received more than 50 % of the votes or the distance between the two most popular candidates is more than 10 %, the election will go into a second round in April.

González, closely connected to the former left President Rafael Correa, has promised to fight drug trafficking as resolutely as Noboa. She calls for the abolition of the Snai authority, which is responsible for the prison system and would like to invest in facial recognition technology in order to reduce violations of the law. In addition, she plans to restore the Ministry of Justice, which Ecuador 2018 had dissolved to reduce public expenses.

The increasing violence in Ecuador

ecuador has developed into an important center for the cocaine trade, which has led to a continuing security crisis. Expertise and reports of the UN indicate that Ecuador is between the two largest drug producers Peru and Colombia. The willingness to violence has increased significantly since 2021, although the murder rate was three times as high, although the government reported a decline in murder cases by 16.5 % for 2024. Criminal organizations and local gangs are involved in corruption and blackmail and have threatened political actors.

economic challenges

In addition to the crisis of the crime, a drought, triggered by the El Niño phenomenon, has severely affected the country's hydropower plants, which led to energy bottlenecks. In order to reduce electricity consumption, the government has organized several power failures that lasted up to 14 hours. These power failures occurred in an economically tense situation in which more than half of the jobs in Ecuador are informal and unregulated. Experts warn that the next president will have the difficult task of stabilizing an economic situation on the sidelines of the collapse.

The presidential elections in Ecuador are therefore characterized by serious domestic challenges that adopt both security and economic dimensions. The upcoming decisions of the voters could be decisive for the future of the country.