Candidates for the General Elections in Ecuador are Being Formed

                       by Maria Josefina Arce

Ecuadorians will go to the polls in February 2025, in general elections in which some political figures who already participated in the early elections last August will repeat in the race for the presidency.

This is the case of the already confirmed candidates Luisa Gonzalez, for the Citizen's Revolution Movement, and the current president Daniel Noboa, for the ruling National Democratic Action Party, who, as expected and as announced, will seek re-election.

Gonzalez and Noboa managed to pass to the second round of the early elections, in which the candidate of the center-right political alliance National Democratic Action won with 52% of the votes, completing the mandate of Guillermo Lasso at the head of the country.

Let us remember that in May 2023, Lasso decreed the death of the cross, which implied the dissolution of the National Assembly and the call for elections.

Lasso used this legal figure in view of the progress in the legislative body of an impeachment trial against him for embezzlement, which threatened his removal from office.

Noboa's first nine months in office have not been without controversy, both internally and externally.

The declaration of an internal armed conflict, several states of emergency, curfews, and the militarization of the streets and prisons have focused his iron fist policy on the high level of insecurity in the Andean nation, which in 2023 was catalogued as the most violent in Latin America.

But Noboa's strategy has also drawn criticism for endangering human rights. In fact, in the first three months of this year, 45 violations of civil prerogatives were registered by police and military forces, according to Ecuadorian organizations.

The government has been questioned for not giving a comprehensive response to the problem, which, as experts have stressed, requires investment in public policies to attack inequalities, poverty, unemployment and lack of opportunities, especially for young people.

In the international arena, Ecuador was in the news last April for the forced entry of troops into the Mexican embassy in the capital, Quito, to arrest the former Ecuadorian vice president, Jorge Glas, who had received political asylum from Mexico. This action was widely criticized by many countries.

Noboa's term ends on May 23, 2025. He will try to remain in the presidency, but in recent months he has seen a decrease in his acceptance by the citizens, among other things due to the energy crisis that the country is experiencing, the liberalization of fuel prices and the insecurity that still persists.