President Daniel Noboa, decreed this Saturday the state of emergency in seven provinces, in Quito, a canton of Azuay and in prisons of Ecuador, country that tomorrow will decide in crucial elections to its president until 2029.

RELATED:

Early Voting Begins in Ecuador for Presidential Elections Run Off

The measure, will last for 60 days and includes a curfew and restriction of mobility, falls to the provinces of Guayas, Los Ríos, Manabí, Orellana, Santa Elena, El Oro and Sucumbíos, as well as the Metropolitan District of Quito (province of Pichincha) and the municipality of Camilo Ponce (Azuay province).

The decree, which also includes the detention centres of the National Social Rehabilitation System, provides for measures such as suspending the right to inviolability of domicile and correspondence.

In addition, it provides for curfew in 22 municipalities from 22:00 local time (03:00 GMT) to 05:00 local time (10:00 GMT), every day, a measure that does not include Quito.

Noboa also mobilized the police and armed forces in the country, which is under declaration of ‘internal armed conflict’ since January 2024 when Noboa declared “war” on criminal groups, which he called “terrorists”.

The chairman justifies the two-month validity by “the need to have adequate time to mitigate the facts raised and assist the Armed Forces in their actions to maintain the sovereignty and integrity of the State, and the National Police in citizen security, internal protection and public order “aimed at the integral security of the State”.

For his part, the assemblyman for the province of Azuay, Leonardo Berrezueta Carrión, criticized the provision of Noboa and made a warning call about possible false positives, and stated that the state of emergency in these circumstances reveals the despair of the current president at the possible outcome of the electoral process.

The provinces under a state of emergency in Ecuador concentrate about 6.9 million voters, as reported by the National Electoral Council and allow the Armed Forces and the National Police to act to mitigate events that threaten security, Searches and searches, including of communications.

The head of state authorizes certain authorities to carry out inspections, searches and searches, as well as to collect electronic and physical communications without a prior court order. This state of emergency gives the security forces broad powers to prevent public gatherings that pose a threat to security.

EN ESTA NOTA: