Ecuador’s incumbent president and a leftist lawyer again vie for the top job in a runoff election

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) - A conservative young millionaire who is Ecuador ‘s incumbent president and a leftist lawyer are again the choices as Ecuadorians head to the polls on Sunday in the country's second presidential runoff election in less than two years.

President Daniel Noboa and leftist challenger Luisa González have promised voters solutions to the extortions, killings, kidnappings and other crimes that became part of everyday life as Ecuador emerged from the pandemic.

Voters chose Noboa over González in the runoff of a snap election in October 2023. Both advanced to Sunday's contest after being the top vote-getters in February's first-round election. Noboa won 44.17% of the votes while González garnered 44%.

Analysts expect Sunday's results to have a very tight margin. Polls open at 7 a.m. local time (1200 GMT; 8 a.m. EST) and close at 5 p.m. (2200 GMT; 6 p.m. EST) Initial results are expected two hours after polls close.

Voters are primarily worried about the violence that transformed the country, starting in 2021 - a spike in crime tied to the trafficking of cocaine produced in neighboring Colombia and Peru.

Both candidates have promised tough-on-crime policies, better equipment for law enforcement and international help to fight drug cartels and local criminal groups.

More than 13 million people are eligible to vote, which is mandatory for adults up to the age of 65. It is optional for people aged 16 and 17 and over 65. Failure to vote results in a $46 fine.

In 2023, Noboa and González were largely unknown to most voters as they sought the presidency for the first time. They were first-term lawmakers in May 2023, when then-President Guillermo Lasso dissolved the National Assembly, shortening his own mandate as a result and triggering that year's snap election.

Noboa's first foray into politics was his stint as lawmaker. An heir to a fortune built on the banana trade, Noboa opened an event-organizing company when he was 18 and then joined his father's Noboa Corp., where he held management positions in the shipping, logistics and commercial areas.

González, 47, held various government jobs during the presidency of Rafael Correa, who led Ecuador from 2007 through 2017 with free-spending socially conservative policies and grew increasingly authoritarian in his last years as president.

Noboa, 37, declared Ecuador to be in a state of "internal armed conflict" in January 2024, allowing him to deploy thousands of soldiers to the streets to combat gangs and to charge people with terrorism counts for alleged ties to organized crime groups.

Under his watch, the homicide rate dropped from 46.18 per 100,000 people in 2023, to 38.76 per 100,000 people in 2024. But despite the decrease, the rate remained far higher than the 6.85 homicides per 100,000 people seen in 2019.

Some of Noboa's heavy-handed crime-fighting tactics have come under scrutiny for testing the limits of laws and norms of governing. He has also been criticized for allegations of electoral anomalies he made after February's vote.

Following the first-round election, Noboa said there had been "many irregularities" and that in certain provinces "there were things that didn't add up." He provided no further details or evidence. Electoral observers from the Organization of American States and the European Union ruled out fraud.

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Garcia Cano reported from Mexico City.