Support dwindles for leftist's call for Ecuador election recount

By Alexandra Valencia

QUITO (Reuters) -Support for Ecuadorean leftist Luisa Gonzalez's call for a recount in the country's presidential election was dwindling on Monday, as a growing number of prominent members of her party said President Daniel Noboa had secured a full term in Sunday's vote.

Noboa's support was holding at 55.6% early on Monday, the level at which it remained for nearly the entire count. Gonzalez has 44.3% support.

Noboa and electoral authorities said on Sunday he had roundly won the contest, leading by more than 1 million votes in a surprising sweep after a tight February first round, when he finished ahead by just over 16,700 votes.

Gonzalez told supporters on Sunday she did not accept the results, which she called "grotesque" fraud, and that she would demand a recount.

She offered no evidence of fraud, nor did she immediately call for protests.

Candidates can contest results under some conditions after the official count closes. As of mid-morning on Monday, just 1.15% of ballot boxes remained to be counted and only 1.65% registered some kind of irregularity.

Noboa, Gonzalez and her mentor, former President Rafael Correa, had all warned of the potential for fraud ahead of the vote.

In the second round, each candidate had some 45,000 observers from their parties at polling places.

Some influential members of Gonzalez's party, Citizens' Revolution (RC), began to individually recognize Noboa's victory on Monday.

"If the people elected him, we must respect it. Whether we like it or not, the people voted democratically and we must be honest and recognize it," Aquiles Alvarez, the RC mayor of Ecuador's largest city, Guayaquil, said on X. "The worst is to be a bad loser."

"The Ecuadorean people have expressed themselves at the ballot box. We wish the re-elected President Daniel Noboa the greatest success," said Leonardo Orlando, the prefect of Manabi province, an RC stronghold, on social media.

The prefects of Guayas and Pichincha provinces as well as the mayor of capital Quito also congratulated Noboa.

U.S. President Donald Trump said in a social media post that Noboa would not let down the Ecuadorean people, while the U.S. State Department called the election free and fair.

"We look forward to continuing our work with President Noboa's administration to stop illegal immigration and halt violent crimes committed by drug trafficking organizations," it said.

"The election process seems fair and very democratic to me," said Quito resident Veronica Loja, 45. "I think the voting is very clear, the results are there."

Ecuador's international bonds rose between 12 and 15 cents each in price on Monday on Noboa's victory.

SECURITY AND ECONOMY

Noboa focused his second-round campaign on the populous coastal provinces, which have suffered significant violence and where he struggled to win votes in the first round, repeatedly visiting the area alongside his wife and mother.

Economic handouts and support for flood victims on the coast buoyed Noboa's vote, said Cristian Carpio, a professor of politics from the University of the Americas in Quito, citing also voter fear over a return of Correa's socialist policies.

"We had two choices - be part of the undesirable group that includes Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba or be part of a more just, more evolved society, with more chances to grow as a nation," said Quito teacher Ivan Mejia.

RC members had floated the creation of a digital currency for Ecuador, which uses the U.S. dollar as its official currency. Gonzalez had also said she would send thousands of peace advisers to violent neighborhoods.

Both ideas seem to have cost her with voters fed up with crime and wary of anything that might harm the economy.

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 in Ecuador. Meanwhile, the economy has struggled to recover post-pandemic and unemployment has risen.

Noboa has been in office for just over 16 months, after beating Gonzalez in the 2023 race to serve out the remainder of his predecessor's mandate.

He has pledged to continue measures including military deployments, job creation, more seizures of drugs and guns, an increase in tax revenues and efforts to attract more private investment to the oil sector.

Noboa says his work has already paid dividends, including a 15% reduction in violent deaths last year and potential 4% economic growth this year.

The president will need to show progress to keep popular support, Carpio said. He will also have to deal with a divided national assembly, where his National Democratic Action Party has one fewer seat - 66 - than RC. Neither party has a majority.

"(Noboa) will have to build bridges, the government needs urgently to improve the perception of security," Carpio said. "Economic management will be key. Ecuador must recover and the government must work on investment, public spending and the electricity provision issue."

The victory is not a blank check, Noboa's Minister of Government Jose de la Gasca told television channel Teleamazonas. "This means we enter a phase of national reconciliation," he said.

Noboa's mother, Annabella Azin, won a legislature seat with more votes than any other candidate and could be elected the body's president.

Noboa's full term will begin on May 24.

Noboa's win was consistent with what Organization of American States officials observed during voting, Luis Almagro, its secretary general, said on X.

(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia in Quito, additional reporting by Tito Correa in Quito; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Saad Sayeed, Rod Nickel and Rosalba O'Brien)