Polls close in tight Ecuador presidential race, drug violence top concern

QUITO/GUAYAQUIL (Reuters) -Polls closed in Ecuador on Sunday in what was expected to be a close presidential race between incumbent Daniel Noboa, who says he needs more time to combat drug gangs and boost the economy, and leftist Luisa Gonzalez, whose election would mark a return to the socialist policies that prevailed for a decade.

Voting, which ended at 5 p.m (2200 GMT), proceeded without any security issues and had nearly 84% voter participation, said Diana Atamaint, the head of the national electoral council.

Both candidates, as well as Gonzalez's mentor, former President Rafael Correa, urged their observers to guard against potential electoral fraud. They each had more than 45,000 polling place observers.

No definitive results will be announced until every vote is counted, Atamaint has said, though initial tallies are expected from 6 p.m. local time (2300 GMT).

Pollsters say either candidate could win. The runoff was triggered when Noboa finished the first round in February with a narrow lead of 16,746 votes over Gonzalez.

Noboa, a 37-year-old business heir, has been president for just over 16 months after beating Gonzalez in a 2023 race to finish out his predecessor's term.

He says his "Phoenix" security plan, including military deployments on the streets, beefed up port security and more seizures of drugs and guns, is paying dividends, including a 15% reduction in violent deaths last year.

Murders, gun smuggling, fuel theft, extortion and other crimes carried out by local criminal groups allied with Mexican cartels and the Albanian mafia have spiked over the last five years as the economy has struggled to recover post-pandemic and unemployment has risen.

Gonzalez, who voted in coastal Manabi province, has promised to revive social programs enacted by Correa during his decade in power beginning in 2007, as well as improve security. She has said Noboa has improvised his governance.

"Has your life gotten better in these 15 months? Or worse? You have the answer: in your wallet, in your house, in your heart," she said in a Thursday social media video. "This Sunday we choose between continuing to fall and getting up together to defend hope."

Noboa will watch the results in the beach town of Olon, where he also voted accompanied by his wife and children. Gonzalez is in Quito.

"Ecuadoreans want real change," Noboa said at his final campaign event in Guayaquil on Thursday. "This Sunday we will teach a lesson to that failed revolution, to those bad officials who attack us, to all the mafias that have taken our peace and to all the corruption that has stopped us moving ahead."

He has predicted 4% economic growth this year if his policies - including an increase in tax revenues and some austerity measures - continue. Noboa has pledged to prevent new energy cuts and boost the oil sector with private investment.

Some of his recent measures - like distributing payouts to people affected by an oil spill and small businesses hit by flooding - seemed geared toward winning votes.

"I'm tired of the same politicians from the past," said 52-year-old Nubia Armas, who voted for Noboa in Quito. "He's a young man who represents new ideas for the country. I trust his plans."

INDIGENOUS SUPPORT

Gonzalez has pointed to a year-on-year uptick in killings in January and February as evidence Ecuadoreans remain unsafe and said she will deploy 20,000 new police if she wins.

She has secured the support of a significant part of the country's Indigenous movement, though Indigenous groups in the Amazon say they will back Noboa.

"The efforts of the current government have been useless. We're really depending on this vote. We're worried we won't find the peace we so desire for our Ecuador," said 40-year-old housewife Cinthya Pineda, after voting in Guayaquil for Gonzalez.

Gonzalez, who said during her 2023 campaign that she could use foreign currency reserves for social programs, would need to manage delicate relationships with the International Monetary Fund, foreign investors and the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump if elected.

Bond markets so far are cautious. If Noboa wins, there would be a rally, but it was difficult to take a position ahead of the election given the uncertainty as to the winner and the unreliability of the polls, said Magda Branet, head of emerging markets with AXA Investment Managers.

Gonzalez would be the first woman elected president of Ecuador if she wins. She has said she, and not Correa, will govern. But some lawmakers from their Citizens' Revolution party have suggested that the former president - who was sentenced to eight years in prison on corruption charges in 2020 and lives in Belgium - could return to Ecuador.

Correa has warned that Noboa will not hand over power, though he has cited no evidence. Noboa has previously said he will recognize the results so long as there are no indications of fraud.

(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia in Quito and Yury Garcia in Guayaquil; Additional reporting by Tito Correa in Quito and Libby George in London; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien, Mark Porter and Cynthia Osterman)