Ecuador's Presidential Election heads to a Second Round in October

EPISODE: Ecuador’s Presidential Election
heads to a Second Round in October


GUEST: Pilar Troya


Pilar is an Ecuadorian feminist anthropologist. Her main areas of
interest are social public policies, especially concerning gender
equality and the feminist movement. She has served as an advisor
to the Ministry of National Planning and as an advisor and Deputy
Minister to the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and
Technology of Ecuador. She is a researcher at Tricontinental:
Institute for Social Research.


BACKGROUND:


Luisa González, of the Movimiento Revolución Ciudadana party, on
Sunday took a lead in the first round of Ecuador’s presidential
and legislative elections, which have been marred by political
assassinations as the Andean nation struggles with a wave of
violence that has brought homicide rates, under the Lasso
administration, to record levels.


Gonzalez is set to face the surprise second-place finisher Daniel
Noboa in a run-off election in October, according to the National
Electoral Council of Ecuador (CNE), as neither candidate won more
than 50% of the ballot.


González has promised to enhance public spending and social
programs and wants to address the security crisis by fixing the
root causes of violence, such as poverty and inequality. A former
tourism and labor minister in Correa’s government, González has
also called for the judiciary to be reinforced to help with
prosecutions, analysts say.


Daniel Noboa is the son of banana businessman Álvaro Noboa – who
himself has run for the presidency at least five times. The
35-year-old was a lawmaker before outgoing President Guillermo
Lasso dissolved the legislature and called for early elections.


FOLLOW OUR GUEST: Twitter


ADDITIONAL LINKS:


Ecuador’s President Dissolves National Assembly Triggering Early
Elections


Ecuador: The Lasso Government Post-National Strike


Ecuador Erupts Against Neoliberalism


TriContinental: Institute for Social Research


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