Ecuadorians To Choose Their President Today

On Sunday, over 13 million Ecuadorians are eligible to participate in the second round of the election to determine the next President of Ecuador. 

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Polling stations will open to welcome Ecuadorians who wish to exercise their mandatory voting between 07:00 am and 5:00 pm local time to select a presidential ticket in an election where several polls do not indicate a clear winner. 

In this runoff, Daniel Noboa, the right-wing candidate for the National Democratic Action alliance (ADN), will compete against Luisa Gonzalez, the candidate from the Citizen Revolution party.

They were the top vote-getters in the August 20 election. If elected, Luisa Gonzalez would become the first woman to be elected as the President of Ecuador. 

The winner of the second round will govern Ecuador for nearly 17 months, completing the presidential term of Guillermo Lasso, who dissolved the Congress and called for early elections to avoid impeachment in a corruption trial. 

Due to the increase in insecurity in this South American country, over 53,000 police officers and around 43,000 soldiers will be deployed across Ecuador to ensure the safety of voters, presidential candidates, elected legislators, and local authorities. 

The first results are expected to be announced an hour and a half after the counting begins, as there is no provision for a rapid count. 

In Ecuador, voting is mandatory for citizens between the ages of 18 and 65, while it is optional for older adults and young people between 16 and 18 years of age. 

For this election day, the electoral authority set up a total of 4,390 polling centers nationwide, and those residing abroad will also have the opportunity to cast their votes in person.