Ecuador President Noboa confirmed as candidate for reelection next year

By Alexandra Valencia

QUITO (Reuters) -Ecuador President Daniel Noboa's National Democratic Action political movement officially confirmed him on Friday as its candidate for a presidential election in February, giving him a chance to win a first full four-year term in office.

Noboa, the 36-year-old son of Ecuador's richest man, was elected in 2023 to serve a shortened 18-month term after his predecessor, Guillermo Lasso, called early elections to escape impeachment.

The scion of a family of banana plantation owners, Noboa was elected on his pledge to tackle Ecuador's spiraling crime rate, which authorities blame on drug trafficking gangs.

"The search for justice has to be reinforced with a reelection; we have put all our heart in this search for justice, all my desire, all my youth in that search for justice," Noboa said.

In January, Noboa declared Ecuador was in a state of war and designated 22 groups as terrorists.

Lawmakers will also be elected to sit in the country's National Assembly in February.

Maria Jose Pinto, the government's secretary of infant malnutrition, was chosen to run as Noboa's vice president.

Noboa has declared a string of states of emergency amid his anti-crime efforts, allowing soldiers to patrol the streets and prisons.

He handily won voter support for a series of security measures in an April referendum, including stricter gun controls in areas near prisons and an end to parole for crimes such as kidnapping or financing terrorism, among others.

Violent deaths in Ecuador in 2024 fell 19% through July, compared with the year-earlier period, according to the government.

(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia; Writing by Oliver Griffin; Editing by Brendan O'Boyle, Peter Graff and Jonathan Oatis)