Ecuadorian President Wants to Cling to Power Tooth and Nail, Diego Borja Warns
A member of the Ecuadorian armed forces. X/ @IMJ_AA
April 13, 2025 Hour: 2:55 pm
The ‘State of Exception’ declaration is extremely serious on the eve of an electoral process,” said the vice-presidential candidate.
On Sunday, Vice-Presidential candidate Diego Borja, running alongside Citizen Revolution presidential candidate Luisa Gonzalez, criticized the decision of Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, who on Saturday declared a new “State of Exception” in seven provinces.
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“The ‘State of Exception’ declaration is extremely serious on the eve of an electoral process,” said the leftist vice-presidential candidate, adding that Noboa’s decision has caused concern among electoral observers from the European Union (EU) and the Organization of American States (OAS).
“This issue is included in the reports because acts of this nature are violations—even of the OAS Democratic Charter,” Borja explained, emphasizing that Noboa’s decree is a desperate move by a right-wing politician who, seeing that he has lost popular support, wants to “cling to power tooth and nail.”
On Saturday, less than 24 hours before the elections began, Noboa declared a 60-day “State of Emergency” in the provinces of Guayas, Los Rios, Manabi, Orellana, Santa Elena, El Oro, and Sucumbios, as well as in the Metropolitan District of Quito and the municipality of Ponce Enriquez in Azuay.
President Noboa’s decree suspends the right to the inviolability of home and correspondence, and imposes a curfew in 22 municipalities from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. local time, every day. However, this measure does not apply to Quito.
On Sunday, over 13.7 million Ecuadorians were called to participate in the second round of a presidential election marked by allegations of irregularities that could tip the scales in favor of right-wing politician Noboa, who is seeking reelection and aims to defeat Luisa Gonzalez.
On Saturday, Gonzalez raised alarms by denouncing operations coordinated by the Noboa administration to place fraudulent electoral records at various polling sites across the country. She revealed that sources within the National Police and the Armed Forces warned her about this potential fraudulent maneuver.
“They are trying to fabricate a narrative of fraud in the face of Noboa’s imminent defeat,” Gonzalez stated, warning that such actions “will destroy what little democracy Ecuadorians have left.”
teleSUR/ JF
Source: EFE
