Preliminary results from Sunday's presidential election in Ecuador indicate that incumbent Daniel Noboa may not secure a first-round victory despite his current lead over Correísmo candidate Luisa González. With 9% of the votes counted, Noboa holds 47.21% of the valid votes, compared to González's 40.88%. Noboa previously defeated González in the second round of the 2023 extraordinary elections.
An exit poll conducted after the polls closed showed Noboa with 50.12% of the valid votes and González with 42.21%, based on a sample of over 28,000 cases nationwide and a margin of error of 2.98%.
To win in the first round, a candidate needs to secure more than half of the valid votes or at least 40% with a lead of at least ten percentage points over the second-placed candidate. If neither candidate meets these criteria, a second round will be held on April 13, likely featuring Noboa and González, who faced each other in the 2023 second round. The election was brought forward due to the resignation of then-President Guillermo Lasso.
Leonidas Iza, the candidate of the indigenous movement Pachakutik, is currently in third place with 5.26%, followed by environmental activist Andrea González Náder (Sociedad Patriótica) with 2.92%. The remaining twelve presidential candidates have not reached 1% of the vote.
Over 13.7 million Ecuadorians were called to the polls on Sunday to elect their national authorities for the 2025-2029 period, including the President and Vice President, 151 members of the National Assembly (Parliament), and five representatives to the Andean Parliament.