Ecuador elects business heir as country's youngest  president

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 more than 97 percent of the votes counted, electoral officials said Noboa had 52.1 percent, compared to 47.9 percent for Luisa González, a leftist lawyer and ally of exiled former President Rafael Correa. González conceded defeat during a speech before supporters in which she also urged Noboa to fulfill his campaign promises.

“Today we have made history. Ecuadorian families chose a New Ecuador. They chose a country with security and employment,” Noboa posted on X.

Noboa — the youngest person to lead the country — is the son of banana tycoon and politician Alvaro Noboa, who made five unsuccessful runs for the presidency.

Noboa, 35, will lead the South American country during a period that drug trafficking-related violence has left Ecuadorians wondering when, not if, they will be victims. Their uneasiness has prompted them to continuously watch their backs and limit how often they leave home.

After results showed him victorious, Noboa thanked Ecuadorians for believing in “a new political project, a young political project, an improbable political project.”

Dealing with violence

Both Noboa and Gonzalez have vowed to prioritise dealing with the escalating violence.

After images on social media showed a person appearing to fill out multiple ballots in favour of Noboa, the head of the National Electoral Commission, Diana Atamaint, promised an "immediate" investigation.

Ten hours of voting on Sunday unfolded amid a heavy police presence, but Interior Minister Juan Zapata said there had been no violent incidents.

Some 100,000 police and soldiers were deployed to keep the vote safe.

"It is a critical election," Freddy Escobar, a popular 49-year-old singer, told AFP in a voting line, citing crime as his main worry. "I am voting in fear, not knowing what will happen."

The main concerns of Ecuadorans, according to recent polls, are crime and violence in a country where the murder rate quadrupled in the four years to 2022.

"Today we win," Noboa shouted as he pumped his fist in the air after voting in the coastal town of Olon, where he lives.

Gonzalez also predicted victory as she cast her ballot in the southwest town of Canuto.

"My hunch is that Ecuador will win, in other words, Citizen Revolution," she said, referring to her political party.

Drug violence

Long a haven between major cocaine exporters Colombia and Peru, Ecuador has seen violence explode in recent years as enemy gangs with links to Mexican and Colombian cartels vie for control.

The fighting has seen at least 460 inmates massacred in prisons since February 2021 -- many beheaded or burned alive in mass riots.

And the bloodbath has spilled into the streets, with gangs dangling headless corpses from city bridges and detonating car bombs outside police stations in a show of force.

In August, the violence claimed the life of anti-graft and anti-cartel journalist and presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, mowed down in a barrage of submachine-gun fire after a campaign speech.

He had been polling in second place.

A state of emergency was declared after Villavicencio's assassination, and Noboa and Gonzalez both campaigned, and voted, with heavy security details.