Thirty-five-year-old businessman Daniel Noboa and his National Democratic Action party emerged victorious after the second round of Ecuador’s presidential election, receiving 52.3% of the vote, which saw the “Citizen Revolution” Movement and its leader, Luisa Gonzalez, fall short.
Former president Rafael Correa expressed his regret at the results, tweeting:
“We didn’t make it this time. We faced enormous forces. They even assassinated a candidate to stop us from winning,”
This was a reference to Fernando Villavicencio, the candidate of the Construye Movement, who was killed days before the first round of the general elections.
The Foro Madrid, an organization which seeks to counter left-wing policies in Spain and Latin America, congratulated Noboa, and highlighted the continued erosion of Correa’s political legacy in Ecuador.
For his part, Noboa has described himself as being neither on the Right nor Left. He is, however, “progressive” on various social issues, calling for the creation of sensitivity programs to educate the Ecuadorian population on alternative gender identities and sexual orientations.
