Citizen Revolution Movement candidate Luisa Gonzalez celebrates her victory in the first round of Ecuador's presidential election in Quito, August 20, 2023. RODRIGO BUENDIA / AFP

Two heirs will meet in the second round of Ecuador's presidential election. The candidate of the Citizen Revolution Movement, Luisa Gonzalez, 45, is the designated heir to former socialist president Rafael Correa. She came out on top in the first round of voting on Sunday, August 20, with 33.3% of the vote. Meanwhile, Daniel Noboa, 35, the son of millionaire banana magnate Alvaro Noboa, who has himself been a candidate several times, won 23.7% of the vote. With 50% of voters saying they were undecided with ten days to go, the televised debate on August 14 − in which Noboa's performance was praised − seems to have weighed heavily in their choice.

The elections were held peacefully, after an election campaign marked by the assassination of one of the eight candidates running, Fernando Villavicencio. The second round will take place on October 15. The winner will remain in office for just 18 months, until the outgoing president Guillermo Lasso (right) finishes his term. Highly unpopular and threatened with impeachment, Lasso chose in May to dissolve the assembly and resign himself, triggering general, legislative and presidential elections. According to preliminary results, the Citizen Revolution Movement, which is expected to win almost a third of the seats, remains the leading parliamentary force.

Green victory

Ecuadorians were also asked to vote in a referendum on oil exploitation in the Yasuni Amazon Park in the northeast of the country. Asked whether the government should leave the oil "indefinitely underground," 58.9% of Ecuadorians answered "yes." Ecologists and other environmentalists celebrated a historic victory "for Ecuador and for the whole world."

Read more Ecuador votes to stop oil drilling in Amazon reserve

More than 100,000 soldiers and police had been deployed in the country, faced with a rise in violence attributed to the growing presence of drug trafficking. According to the CNE, 81% of the 13.4 million voters turned out at the polls (voting is compulsory in Ecuador). Some 300,000 Ecuadorians living abroad were also able to vote via Internet. But failures in the platform, attributed by the president of the CNE to "attacks" from Russia and India in particular, prevented thousands of voters from exercising their right to vote. The question of whether the vote of Ecuadorians abroad should be canceled and rescheduled has been raised.

The name and photo of Fernando Villavicencio, the candidate assassinated on August 9 in Quito, appeared on a ballot paper. Authorized to replace him at the last moment by the CNE, Christian Zurita, his friend and colleague, came third, with 16.5% of the vote.

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