Ecuadoreans voted on Sunday to choose their next president, weighing pledges to improve the economy and control a spiraling security situation from a businessman who is heir to a banana fortune and a leftist who would be the country’s first woman leader. “We need the hope of a prepared candidate and [Noboa] is that,” said Guayaquil University student Estefano Ruales, 25. Nearly 45% of eligible Ecuadoreans had voted by 1 p.m. local time (3 p.m. Buenos Aires time), council president Diana Atamaint told a press conference. About a quarter of the 13 million Ecuadoreans obliged to vote are between the ages of 18 and 29. Noboa is expected to await the results in the seaside town of Olon, while González has an event planned in Quito.

Source: Bueno Aires Herald October 15, 2023 19:03 UTC