Medellín, Colombia – On March 23, Ecuador’s incumbent President Daniel Noboa and his challenger, Luisa Gonzalez, faced each other in a heated debate broadcast on national television.
What could have been a pivotal opportunity to explain policies that could shape the outcome of the election turned into bitter personal attacks between the two candidates.
Gonzalez, candidate for the Citizen Revolution party and a former Labor Minister, focused her answers as attacks against Noboa according to El Universo and consulted analysts. They also agreed that Noboa did manage to present some of his presidential proposals.
With no clear winner to the debate, Ecuadorians are left with no further insight into where their votes will go. The polls still remain unclear.
The debate has made voters more polarized, with many taking to social media site X to express their opinions. Stalin Andino, Legal Secretary of the President of the Republic, used the phrase that González used against Noboa during the debate, “don’t lie.”
Political analyst Antuan Barquet, quoted in El Universo, explains the different approaches of the candidates. González aimed to proclaim “order, work and peace” whilst Noboa talked mainly about “future and freedom”. González has previously said, “We do not want a state of war, we want the construction of peace.”
Noboa claimed throughout the debate that González’s aim was to eliminate the dollarization system in Ecuador. However, González assured the viewers that she wanted to strengthen it. Noboa recently issued a decree to ratify the US dollar as the sole currency in Ecuador.
Read more: Noboa issues order for Congress to ratify U.S. dollar as sole currency in Ecuador
Another main talking point throughout the debate was the accusations from both parties surrounding the drug trade, which is an ongoing issue in Ecuador, that coincides with citizen security — a top issue for the electorate.
González accused Noboa of being involved in the export of drugs, which the government is trying to tackle, and asked him to take an “anti-doping test” to which Noboa did not respond.
Furthermore, the topic of Venezuela was also discussed. González said that she would send immigrants that entered Ecuador without documents back to Venezuela. Noboa earlier announced a stricter policy toward Venezuelan migrants in the country — which the Inter-Agency Coordination Platform for Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela estimates at some 445,000.
Read more: Ecuador changes migration policy, affecting Venezuelan immigrants
With most of the talk focused on attacking each other, political analysts have agreed that the debate has generated greater polarization with analyst Ricardo Flores emphasizing: “What the debate generated was greater polarization; that is, those who were already determined to support one of the candidates had their opinions reinforced, but I don’t think it helped to attract those who are still undecided,” according to El Universo.
Featured image credit: Wikimedia Commons, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
