The EU, the Andean Parliament and Mercosur congratulate Ecuador on the electoral process

Quito, Oct 16 (EFE).- The European Union (EU) and the observer missions of the Andean Parliament and the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) congratulated Ecuador this Monday for the development of the electoral process on Sunday, in which the Businessman Daniel Noboa was elected president of the country until May 2025.

"Congratulations to Ecuador for its successful and peaceful electoral process and to President-elect Daniel Noboa for his victory. The EU hopes to continue deepening its relations with the new Government," the EU ambassador in Ecuador wrote on his X account (formerly Twitter). Ecuador, Charles-Michel Geurts.

In a press conference, observers from the Andean Parliament and Mercosur agreed that the process developed normally and in an atmosphere of peace, and welcomed the fact that the highest percentage of the votes were known a few hours after the close of the elections. .

Likewise, they highlighted the attitude of Noboa, and his rival, Correista Luisa González, after the preliminary official results were revealed and reiterated that "democracy has triumphed in Ecuador."

"The fact that the two candidates recognize the results on the same night speaks very well of Ecuador as a country," and demonstrates trust in the institutions, indicated Gustavo Pacheco, of the Andean Parliament.

However, he recalled that it is not usual for an election to have acts of violence, such as the one recorded eleven days before the first round, when on August 9, presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was murdered by hitmen as he was leaving a political rally, in Quito.

He recalled that also a few days ago seven of those allegedly responsible for the murder of Villavicencio were murdered in prison, for which he asked the National Electoral Council (CNE) of Ecuador "not to give up in knowing what the electoral truth of those deaths has been." that "cannot be forgotten."

Likewise, he commented that it is not common for presidential candidates and other people to have worn bulletproof vests during the electoral process.

Despite this, the Andean Parliament highlighted that this Monday "Ecuador dawns in peace."

Oscar Darío Pérez, also from the Andean Parliament, referred to the electoral process as "successful", but expressed his concern about the fact that when the vote counting is finished, photographs of the final minutes are allowed to be disseminated from the same electoral precincts.

This is because this could give rise to interpretations and conclusions by political groups about the results, which, when transferred to public opinion, without being definitive official data, could become a "distorting and, suddenly, complex" situation.

María Luisa Storani, from Mercosur, praised the data processing system and asked for more work on information issues for the population.

He defined Sunday as peaceful and agile, in which, after 97.94% of the minutes were scrutinized, Noboa - from the National Democratic Action alliance - has 51.94%, while González, from the political movement led by the former president Rafael Correa (2007-2017), has 48.06%.