Polls closed in Ecuador on Sunday in what was expected to be a close presidential race between incumbent Daniel Noboa, who says he needs more time to combat drug gangs and boost the economy, and leftist Luisa Gonzalez, whose election would mark a return to the socialist policies that prevailed for a decade.
Voting, which ended at 5 p.m. (2200 GMT), proceeded without any security issues and had nearly 84% voter participation, said Diana Atamaint, the head of the national electoral council.
Both candidates, as well as Gonzalez's mentor, former President Rafael Correa, urged their observers to guard against potential electoral fraud. They each had more than 45,000 polling place observers.
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 as the economy has struggled to recover post-pandemic and unemployment has risen.