This Sunday, Ecuadorians expressed widespread support for the president’s proposals through voting. Daniel Noboa to step up the fight against organized crime, but they largely turned their backs on his economic reforms to create jobs by legalizing hourly contracts and attract investment by accepting international arbitrations in any jurisdiction.

Among the eleven questions that made up the plebiscite, The “Yes” answer won with percentages ranging from 73.05% to 61.97% across nine questions. with measures to strengthen the state in the fight against organized crime, and “No” dominated proposals for international arbitrations (64.88%) and hourly contracts (68.83%).

With this national poll, Noboa measured his popular support since taking office less than five months ago and with the 2025 general elections on the horizon, to whom he has already expressed his intention to run for re-election.

The short duration of the mandate of Daniel Noboa, who came to power on November 23 last year, is due to the fact that he was chosen to cap the year and six months of Guillermo Lasso’s disappearance, who decided to dissolve parliament and call early elections before filing for possible dismissal by the Legislative Assembly.

Now 36-year-old Noboa, the youngest elected president in Ecuadorian history, is bolstered by his crusade against organized crime, for which At the beginning of the year, he announced an “internal armed conflict” with criminal groups. which he came to view as terrorist groups and non-state belligerents.

However, his campaign promise to create jobs for young people appears to be curtailed when he remains without the possibility of legalizing hourly contracts, and attracting foreign investment after its decline in recent years.

Three questions that have an immediate effect

There are three questions on which a “yes” was imposed, which will take effect as soon as the official results are announced, because these are amendments to the 2008 Constitution, approved during the presidential term of Rafael Correa (2007-2017).

The first one with the most votes (73.05%) refers to the fact that The Armed Forces participate on an ongoing basis together with the police in operations against organized crime.

With 65.11% votes in favor, this will also apply. immediate extradition to Ecuadorians required by the courts of other countries, and with 60.49% a judicial system for constitutional matters will be created.

Six reforms submitted to the Assembly

Other measures where “Yes” wins include legislation that must be considered in the National Assembly (Parliament), such as the instruct the Armed Forces to control access to prisonsthe epicenter of the violence crisis the country is experiencing.

The same path will go Tougher penalties for crimes related to organized crime and the abolition of prison benefits for some of these figures, so that those convicted for these reasons must serve their full sentences in prison.

In turn, the Assembly should consider creating the crime of owning and carrying weapons exclusively for the use of police and armed forcesas well as a mechanism for equipping these state forces with weapons confiscated from criminals and a mechanism for expropriating illegal assets.

Noboa and Correa look like winners

“We defended the country, now we will have more tools to fight crime and restore peace to Ecuadorian families,” Noboa wrote on the social network Instagram.

In turn, the former president Rafael Correa (2007–2017), who campaigned for “No”, considered this victory of the people and “clear defeat” of Noboafor losing two economic issues that the former president called key.

“The Ecuadorian people have put stop a potential dictator” Correa thought about it.

Participated in the plebiscite 72% of the more than 13.6 million Ecuadorians called to vote and was marked by the murder of the director of the El Rodeo prison in the city of Portoviejo and the outbreak of a riot in the Quevedo prison, as a result of which at least four were injured.

You might be interested > Noboa loses 2 out of 11 questions in Ecuador referendum, poll results

The week before the vote was also marked murders of two mayors of cities where illegal mining takes placeand a severe energy crisis that forced the government to cut power for eight hours a day to ration the supply.

(EFE)