Seoul Gazette - Election rematch for Ecuador's president, main rival

On Sunday, they will face off for the top post for the second time in less than 16 months.

Noboa, in office since November 2023, is polling as the favorite after a short but intense initial stint marked by his war on gangs and a drought-related energy crisis.

He was elected to complete the four-year term of predecessor Guillermo Lasso, who had called a snap vote to avoid impeachment for alleged embezzlement.

Gonzalez is in second place from a total of 16 candidates, but polls give neither of the top two enough votes to win the first round, making a runoff likely on April 13.

- Young blood -

Sporty, rich, and active on social media, Noboa finishes his term as one of the world's youngest presidents, aged 37.

In his short months in office, Noboa won praise for clamping down on narco gangs blamed for turning the once-peaceful country into a violent one almost overnight.

But he drew criticism for alleged abuses committed under a prolonged state of emergency that allowed for troops to be deployed to the streets and violence-riddled prisons.

He can claim some success: Ecuador's record homicide rate of 47 per 100,000 people in 2023, came down to 38 per 100,000 last year.

Noboa wants to continue this work and has repeatedly insisted that "nothing can be resolved in a year."

A wine connoisseur and musician, Noboa was born in the United States and into the Ecuadoran banana empire of his billionaire father Alvaro, who himself ran for the presidency -- unsuccessfully -- five times.

The president holds a degree in business administration from New York University and three master's from Harvard, Northwestern and George Washington universities.

At the age of 18 he created his own events company before joining the Noboa family business.

With a serious air, but tanned and sporty, Noboa describes his politics as center-left. But he won election with support from the right and has embraced neo-liberal economic policies.

Noboa's only previous political experience was two years as a lawmaker, when he served as chairman of the congressional economics committee.

During that time, he was accused of engaging in a conflict of interest for having financed, from his own pocket, a trip for seven MPs to Russia -- a key market for his family's banana business -- after the invasion of Ukraine.

He was also accused of tax evasion, but was never found guilty.

An avid athlete, Noboa gets up at dawn to exercise, collects chili peppers and is passionate about cars and horses, according to his press team.

He is married to nutrition influencer Lavinia Valbonesi, with whom he fathered two of his three children.

- Protege -

An avid cyclist and marathon runner, tattoo enthusiast and animal lover, 47-year-old Gonzalez garnered more votes than any other candidate in the first round of voting in 2023 -- only to lose to Noboa in the second round.

She is the protege of socialist ex-president Rafael Correa, living in exile and sentenced in absentia by an Ecuadoran court to eight years in prison for corruption related to public contracts.

Lawyer Gonzalez started politics on the right of the political spectrum, later switched sides and serving in the government of Correa, who continues to loom large as a divisive figure in Ecuadoran politics.

Gonzalez has vowed to pursue his socialist policies, while insisting he will be nothing more than an advisor.

From humble origins in a small town in Ecuador's southwest, Gonzalez holds master's degrees in economics and management.

A single mother of two sons -- she had the first when she was just 16 -- Gonzalez has sought to portray herself as a defender of women's rights.

But she has come under fire for her opposition as a lawmaker to abortion, even in cases of rape.

Gonzalez would be Ecuador's first elected woman president.

In 1997, then-vice president Rosalia Arteaga briefly served in the top post after Abdala Bucaram was removed from office, deemed mentally unfit to serve.

F.Cheon--SG