Ecuador's conservative incumbent and a leftist lawyer are leading early presidential voting results

GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador is likely to choose its next president in a runoff election later this year as early results of a first-round vote Sunday showed a tight difference between conservative President Daniel Noboa and leftist lawyer Luisa González.

Figures released by Ecuador’s National Electoral Council after 66% of ballots were tallied showed Noboa received more than 3.09 million votes, or 44.7%, while González earned over 3.02 million votes, or 43.8%. The 14 other candidates in the race were far behind them.

The election is shaping up to be a repeat of the 2023 race, when voters chose the young millionaire Noboa over the González, the protégée of the country’s most influential president this century.

All of Sunday's candidates promised voters to reduce the widespread crime that pushed their lives into an unnerving new normal four years ago.

The spike in violence across the South American country is tied to the trafficking of cocaine produced in neighboring Colombia and Peru. So many voters have become crime victims that their personal and collective losses were a determining factor in deciding whether a third president in four years can turn Ecuador around or if Noboa deserves more time in office.

Ecuador’s National Electoral Council reported that more than 83% of the roughly 13.7 million eligible voters cast ballots. Voting is mandatory in Ecuador.

In the port city of Guayaquil, people lined up, initially under light rain and then under a scorching sun, outside a public university where tens of thousands were expected to cast ballots.

“For me, this president is disastrous,” said Marta Barres, 35, who went to the voting center with her three teenage children. “Can he change things in four more years? No. He hasn’t done anything.”

Barres, who must pay $25 a month to a local gang to avoid harassment or worse, said she would vote for González because she believes she can reduce crime across the board and improve the economy.

To win outright, a candidate needs 50% of the vote or at least 40% with a 10-point lead over the closest challenger. If needed, a runoff election would take place on April 13.

More than 100,000 police officers and members of the military were deployed across the country to safeguard the election, including at voting centers. At least 50 officers accompanied Noboa, his wife and their 2-year-old son to a voting center where the president cast his ballot in the small Pacific coast community of Olón.

Noboa defeated González in the October 2023 runoff of a snap election that was triggered by the decision of then-President Guillermo Lasso to dissolve the National Assembly and shorten his own mandate as a result. Noboa and González, a mentee of former President Rafael Correa, had only served short stints as lawmakers before launching their 2023 presidential campaigns.

Noboa, 37, is an heir to a fortune built on the banana trade. He opened an event organizing company when he was 18 and then joined his father’s Noboa Corp., where he held management positions in the shipping, logistics and commercial areas. His political career began in 2021, when he won a seat in the National Assembly and chaired its Economic Development Commission.

Under his presidency, the homicide rate dropped from 46.18 per 100,000 people in 2023 to 38.76 per 100,000 people last year. Still, it remained far higher than the 6.85 per 100,000 people in 2019, and some of Noboa's no-holds-barred crimefighting strategies have come under scrutiny inside and outside the country for testing the limits of laws and norms of governing.

His questioned tactics include the state of internal armed conflict he declared in January 2024 in order to mobilize the military in places where organized crime has taken hold, as well as last year's approval of a police raid on Mexico’s embassy in the capital, Quito, to arrest former Vice President Jorge Glas, a convicted criminal and fugitive who had been living there for months.

His head-on approach, however, is also earning him votes.

“My vote was for Noboa because of his skills and because he maintains a direct confrontation with the armed drug-trafficking groups and the corrupt,” Pablo Votruba, a retired doctor in Quito, said.

González, 47, held various government jobs during the presidency of Correa, who led Ecuador from 2007 through 2017 with free-spending socially conservative policies and grew increasingly authoritarian in his last years as president. He was sentenced to prison in absentia in 2020 in a corruption scandal.

González was a lawmaker from 2021 until May 2023, when Lasso dissolved the National Assembly. She was unknown to most voters until Correa’s party picked her as its presidential candidate for the snap election.

"They are the fear, we are the hope, hope for change, for joy, for better days to come,” she told reporters after voting in her hometown of Canuto, in northwestern Ecuador.

Meanwhile, a group of soldiers, citing security reasons, prevented presidential candidate Andrea González, no relation to Luisa, from entering her assigned polling station with her protection detail. After a brief discussion, she was allowed in accompanied only by her chief of security.

Waiting for her turn to vote in Guayaquil, architecture student Keila Torres said she had not yet decided who to vote for. None, she said, will be able to lower crime across Ecuador due to deep-rooted government corruption.

“If I could, I wouldn’t be here,” said Torres, who has witnessed three robberies in public buses over the past four years and barely escaped a carjacking in December. “Things are not going to change.”

Luisa Gonzalez, presidential candidate for the Citizen Revolution Movement, speaks after polls closed for the presidential election in Quito, Ecuador, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Carlos Noriega)

Voters mark ballots for their candidate of choice during the presidential election in Quito, Ecuador, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

An electoral official hands a ballot to a voter during the presidential election in Quito, Ecuador, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa, running for re-election, waves after accompanying his running mate, Maria Jose Pinto, to cast her ballot during the presidential elections in Quito, Ecuador, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Carlos Noriega)

A woman stamps her fingerprint on the voter list during presidential elections in Quito, Ecuador, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

A soldier guards a polling station during presidential elections in Quito, Ecuador, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Carlos Noriega)

A nun votes during presidential elections in Quito, Ecuador, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

Luisa Gonzalez, presidential candidate for the Citizen Revolution Movement, gestures after voting in the presidential election in Canuto, Ecuador, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jairo Mendoza)

Luisa Gonzalez, presidential candidate for the Citizen Revolution Movement, holds up her ballot during the presidential election in Canuto, Ecuador, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jairo Mendoza)

A voter casts her ballot during the presidential election in Quito, Ecuador, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

Luisa Gonzalez, presidential candidate for the Citizen Revolution Movement, waves after voting in a presidential election in Canuto, Ecuador, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jairo Mendoza)

A woman votes during presidential elections in Quito, Ecuador, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Carlos Noriega)

A soldier guards a polling station during presidential elections in Quito, Ecuador, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Carlos Noriega)

President Daniel Noboa, who is running for reelection, holds up his ballot before voting in the presidential election in Olon, Ecuador, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Cesar Munoz)

Voters mark ballots for their candidate of choice during the presidential election in Quito, Ecuador, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

A soldier and voters listen to the national anthem at a voting station in Quito, Ecuador, as polls open for the presidential elections on Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

President Daniel Noboa, who is running for reelection, holds up his ballot before voting in the presidential election in Olon, Ecuador, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Cesar Munoz)

President Daniel Noboa, who is running for reelection, casts his ballot in the presidential election in Olon, Ecuador, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Cesar Munoz)

A soldier guards a polling station during presidential elections in Olon, Ecuador, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Cesar Munoz)

A voter cast her ballot during presidential elections in Olon, Ecuador, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Cesar Munoz)

President Daniel Noboa, who is running for reelection, holds up his ballot before voting in the presidential election in Olon, Ecuador, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Cesar Munoz)

A voter casts her ballot in the presidential election in Quito, Ecuador, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

A National Electoral Council employee moves boxes of election materials to be taken to a polling station in preparation for Sunday's general election, in Quito, Ecuador, Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

A soldier stands guard at a distribution center of electoral kits ahead of Sunday's general election, in Quito, Ecuador, Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

Soldiers unload election materials at a polling station in preparation for Sunday's general election, in Quito, Ecuador, Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

Soldiers unload election materials at a polling station in preparation for Sunday's general election, in Quito, Ecuador, Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

A National Electoral Council employee helps to load electoral kits at a distribution center, in preparation for Sunday's general election, in Quito, Ecuador, Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.

Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.

Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.

“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”

He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”

Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.

More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.

In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.

Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”

Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.

“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.

The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.

Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)