The presidential elections in Ecuador are heading to a second round due to the virtual tie between President Daniel Noboa and the socialist Luisa Gonzalez.

Ecuador's presidential elections will be defined in a second round, after President Daniel Noboa and the candidate of Correismo, Luisa Gonzalez, failed to reach the 50 percent required to win in the first round. With 81 percent of the tallies counted, the young president has reached 44.47 percent of the votes, while the candidate for the socialist party Revolución Ciudadana has obtained 44.08 percent.

This way, the political future of the South American country will be decided on April 13, when a second round will be held. That day, President Noboa will seek to consolidate his government project, while Gonzalez will try to materialize the return not only of the Ecuadorian radical left but also of the political movement of the former socialist president Rafael Correa.

In search of the full mandate

Noboa, who is the youngest president in the history of Ecuador, will try to get his first full mandate, which would begin this year and culminate in 2029, after being only 14 months in power after winning the extraordinary elections of 2023, called by then President Guillermo Lasso.

Heir to one of Ecuador's most powerful families, Noboa took the reins of a country mired in a deep security crisis and a delicate economic situation. During the first few months of his presidency, Noboa implemented harsh economic reforms to straighten out the country's fiscal deficit and initiated a policy of "mano dura" (iron fist) against organized crime.

Bishop of Correism

On the other hand, Gonzalez will try to become the second female president in the history of the South American country, after being at the gates of victory in 2023, when she was defeated precisely by Noboa in the second round. The candidate of Revolución Ciudadana is a 47-year-old single mother and one of the main figures of the Ecuadorian opposition and the radical left of this country.

González has been one of the main allies of President Correa since 2010, when she became the coordinator of his Strategic Agenda, which was a crucial position within the Ecuadorian presidency where she got deep into the strings of power of this country. Likewise, she has remained loyal to former President Correa, even when he was convicted to eight years in prison for bribery in 2020.