Ecuador Update: Candidate Gonzalez Votes in Manabi

On Sunday, over 13 million Ecuadorians are set to participate in elections to choose a president, vice president, and 137 legislators.

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The candidates running for the presidency are: Luisa Gonzalez (Citizen Revolution), Otto Sonnenholzner (Act Now), Jan Topic (For a Fearless Country), Daniel Noboa (National Democratic Action), Yaku Perez (Yes, We Can), Xavier Hervas (Total Renewal), Christian Zurita (Build Up), and Bolivar Armijos (Friend). Here are the major events as they happen.

8:35 am: LUISA GONZALEZ CRITICIZED DEFICIENCIES IN ONLINE VOTING ABROAD. The Citizen Revolution presidential candidate called for adequate and timely attention to Ecuadorian migrants abroad because they cannot vote abroad.

The National Electoral Council (CNE) must correct any errors in online voting procedures, she said after exercising her right to vote in the city of Chone in Manabi province.

The only woman running for the presidency thanked the citizens for their confidence in her candidacy and was optimistic about the results of today's elections, in which she could become the first female president of Ecuador in a single round.

The text reads, "The presidential candidate Luisa Gonzales exercised her right to vote in Junta 4, at the Carlos Pomerio Zambrano School, in the Canuto parish, in the Chone canton. Her suffrage was given under strict military and police."

8:25 a.m. OTTO SONNENHOLZNER SWEARS HE WILL CHANGE THE COUNTRY. The right-wing presidential candidate voted in the city of Guayaquil confident that he will contest the presidency in a second round with Luisa Gonzalez, to whom all the voting intention polls point as the winner of the 2023 elections.

"The situation is serious and you need people who know exactly what to do," said Sonnenhozlner, who served as vice president during the Lenin Moreno administration (2017-2021) but resigned amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

8:00 am. CITIZENS COME TO VOTE EARLY IN THE CAPITAL CITY. Despite the unusual rain in summer, Ecuadorians are going to the polls to exercise their right to vote from very early hours of the morning.

At Central Tecnico High School, for example, there is a long line to vote. This happens a few meters away from the place where the presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was assassinated on August 9, reported the correspondent for teleSUR Estefania Bravo, who highlighted that people do have some fear in going to the voting centers.