MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Ecuador: Opposition candidate celebrates “victory” after qualifying for runoff

Despite leading the race, Noboa made no comments after voting (Pic EFE)

Ecuadorean opposition candidate Luisa Gonzalez, a protégé of former President Rafael Correa (2007-2017), celebrated victory Sunday. She and the incumbent Daniel Noboa were on the brink of being confirmed as having qualified for April 13's runoff after neither clinched a decisive 50% majority.

“We have won,” Gonzalez told her followers despite trailing Noboa by 43.96% to 44.55% with 75.86% of the tallies counted, according to the National Electoral Council (CNE), in what would nonetheless be Revolución Ciudadana's best performance without Correa, who is in exile in exile in Belgium to avoid imprisonment for his involvement in acts of corruption.

With 66% of the vote counted, CNE Chief Diana Atamaint admitted the second round was already likely “if the trend continues” while Gonzalez reckoned it was a “technical tie” with Noboa and a “triumph” for her. The 37-year-old Noboa, who was leading the race featuring 15 candidates, made no comments.

Atamaint insisted that the CNE “will continue uninterruptedly until the last vote is counted and until the last ballot with inconsistencies is recounted.”

According to Ecuador's electoral law, a candidate needs 50% of the vote to win in the first round or at least more than 40% with a 10 percentage point lead advantage over the runner-up.

This year's runoff would be a rematch of the one in 2023, in which the businessman - until then the underdog - prevailed over the 47-year-old lawyer after Guillermo Lasso's resignation. Noboa, a former lawmaker who has attended college in the United States, hopes to be reelected for the full 2025-2029 term. In Nov. 2023, he took office only to complete Lasso's mandate.

On the other hand, the progressive, social, and leftist González would be the first woman to become President.

In addition to the country's President and Vice President, over 13.7 million Ecuadoreans were to elect Sunday 151 members of the National Assembly (Legislative) and five representatives to the Andean Parliament. Turnout was reported at 83.38%.