Leonidas Iza, the candidate for the Pachakutik party, is backing Luisa González after coming in third in the first round.
Photographer: Galo Paguay/AFP/Getty Images
Ecuador’s Election Hinges on Indigenous Voters Torn Between Security, Economy
With Noboa and González in a dead heat, the concerns of those that backed the third-place candidate will be key to deciding Sunday’s presidential runoff.
Just 17,000 votes separated the top two candidates in the first round of Ecuador’s presidential election. A third contender raked in half a million votes, meaning supporters of his Indigenous and environmentalist party will be a deciding factor in this weekend’s runoff.
Final polling ahead of the April 13 vote showed socialist challenger Luisa González, a lawyer and protege of former President Rafael Correa, running neck-and-neck with incumbent Daniel Noboa, the millennial heir to a banana fortune. Markets are poised to rally if Noboa can eke out a win, while bonds may be nearing a bottom as traders have priced in a González victory.