Election Results from Ecuador and Poland

Elections last weekend in Ecuador and Poland are leading to changes in leadership in both countries. In Ecuador, Daniel Noboa was elected president. In Poland, opposition parties   seem to have a better path to creating a coalition government than the ruling party.

Ecuador

On Sunday, Daniel Noboa was elected as Ecuador’s new president. He’ll take over from President Guillermo Lasso, who is stepping down early. Mr. Noboa, a 35-year-old businessman, is the youngest person to become president of Ecuador. His biggest challenge will be trying to make the country safer.

Sunday’s runoff election for president was held between the two top candidates from the country’s August election. With 97% of the votes counted, Mr. Noboa, of the National Democratic Action party, won with roughly 52% of the vote. Luisa González, of the Citizen Revolution Movement party, had about 48% of the vote.

Daniel Noboa has been elected Ecuador’s next president. Mr. Noboa, a 35-year-old businessman, is the youngest person to become president of Ecuador. His biggest challenge will be trying to make the country safer. Above, Mr. Noboa speaks to supporters Sunday night.

Since 2021, Mr. Noboa has served in the country’s National Assembly. But he is most famous for being the son of Álvaro Noboa, Ecuador’s richest man. Mr. Noboa’s father made his fortune by growing and selling bananas.

Mr. Noboa faces many challenges. He isn’t very experienced in politics, and his party does not have control of the National Assembly. Also, because he’s taking over part-way through Mr. Lasso’s term, Mr. Noboa will only be president for about 18 months before new elections are held.

These difficulties will make it harder for Mr. Noboa to tackle the huge rise in violence that Ecuador is facing. The violence is largely the result of drug-selling gangs from other countries that have moved into Ecuador.

Poland

Early results from Poland’s elections for Parliament on Sunday suggest that a coalition of opposition parties may have the best chance of forming Poland’s next government.

Early results from Poland’s elections for Parliament on Sunday suggest that even though the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party won the most votes, they do not have nearly enough seats to form a government. Above, PiS party leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski (center), on Sunday night.

The elections were for the 460 seats of the Sejm – the lower house of Poland’s Parliament. The official results have not yet been reported, but early results suggest that the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party took the most seats, with about 36.6% of the vote. Still, that leaves the party with roughly 198 seats – not nearly enough to form a government.

If the early results are accurate, three opposition parties took enough votes to earn around 248 seats. The Civic Platform (PO) party, led by Ex-Prime Minister Donald Tusk, is believed to have earned about 31% of the votes. PO, along with two other opposition parties, could form a coalition government, forcing PiS from power after 8 years.

The Civic Platform (PO) party, led by Ex-Prime Minister Donald Tusk (above), is believed to have earned about 31% of the votes. PO could form a coalition government with two other opposition parties, forcing PiS from power after 8 years.

Because it earned the most votes, PiS may get the first chance to form a government. But it’s unlikely that the party will be able to form a coalition.

If PiS can’t form a government, PO and the other opposition parties may be given a chance to form a government. The job won’t be easy. PiS has worked hard to turn the country’s courts and media into organizations that support PiS. So any opposition government will face many challenges.

Under PiS, Poland’s government has had growing disagreements with the European Union (EU). That’s likely to change if the opposition parties form a government.

(Front page image source: Noboa: Asamblea Nacional del Ecuador, Tusk: European People’s Party, both [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons.)