Ecuador’s Noboa Seeks reelection!
Quito, Mar 31 (EFE). –
Ecuador’s President and candidate for re-election, Daniel Noboa, announced Monday that he will be absent from the presidency to campaign for the second round of the Apr.13 elections. In a letter dated Sunday, addressed to the National Electoral Council (CNE), Noboa said he would start campaigning at noon Mar. 30 until 11:59 pm Apr. 10.
“I will carry out proselytizing activities in my role as presidential candidate, according to the temporary absence from the position of President of the Republic,” said the official statement.
The election campaign began on Mar. 23, and the president has already participated in various activities.
Noboa will campaign without requesting a leave of absence, as provided by Ecuadorian law for authorities seeking immediate re-election, as he did for the first round.
The president insists that he is not seeking re-election, since he was elected in 2023 to complete Guillermo Lasso’s presidential term (2021-2025) and that his right to campaign cannot depend on a permit granted by the National Assembly, controlled by the opposition.
By declaring himself absent, Noboa leaves the position to the Secretary of Public Administration of the Presidency, Cynthia Gellibert, whom he reappointed by decree as “Vice President in charge.”
He delegated the presidency to her during the days he was campaigning in the first round, which was declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court.
Suspension of the Vice President
On Friday, the Electoral Tribunal ruled that Abad’s two-year suspension, which resulted from a complaint of political gender violence filed by Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommenfeld, meant her immediate disqualification from holding public office.
In response to this decision, Abad wrote a message on X that read “Judicial Coup d’Etat” and reminded that only the National Assembly could remove after a political trial.
The confrontation between Noboa and Abad dates back to the 2023 runoff election campaign, and since coming to power, the president has tried to keep her out of the government.
Abad even accused Noboa of leading an alleged campaign of harassment within the government to force her to resign and thus avoid having to delegate the presidency to her during the campaign.
On Saturday, Noboa reappointed Gellibert as “vice president in charge,” the same day it was announced that the Ministry of Labor had registered Abad’s inability to hold public office.
In a decree of Gellibert’s new appointment. Noboa pointed out that she will be “constitutional vice president” during Abad’s “temporary absence”. EFE
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