The Trump effect and the mistakes of Correismo hand Daniel Noboa victory in Ecuador
The conservative president won re-election in a run-off against the leftist Luisa González by almost 12 points, a margin that no poll had anticipated
Ecuadorians woke up Monday in a state of disarray. President Daniel Noboa, a conservative, tied with leftist Luisa González until the final day of the campaign, had won reelection in the second round the day before with a 12-point lead, equivalent to nearly 1.2 million votes. Still in a state of shock, González, the candidate of former president Rafael Correa, faced the disaster with a claim of “grotesque electoral fraud,” which she failed to back with evidence and which was not endorsed by international observers. Even within her own party, Revolución Ciudadana, top leaders, including prominent governors and mayors who had supported the candidate on Sunday in the face of her defeat, were quick to acknowledge Noboa’s victory (with 55.6% of the vote to 44.3%). The wide margin has multiple causes, as varied as self-inflicted errors on the part of Correa’s party, the commitment to “a new way,” and, above all, an unexpected “Trump effect.”
