April 14 (UPI) — Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa won re-election, based on preliminary results in the country’s presidential election held Sunday.

With 90% of the ballots counted Sunday, National Electoral Council president Diana Atamaint declared Noboa the winner, as she announced a turnout of 83.76%, “exceeding the percentage from the first round.”

Voting is mandatory in Ecuador.

Leftist lawyer Luisa González, Noboa’s closest challenger, has rejected the results and demanded a recount. She had also lost to Noboa in the 2023 election.

The conservative Noboa has made the defeat of gangs and drug traffickers one of his chief goals and has used both the military and legislation to make inroads. Among his moves was the start of construction on a new maximum-security prison and the declaration of several states of emergency since his win in the last election, a snap content held in 2023. Government figures show there have been over 1,000 murders since the start of 2025 in Ecuador.

Noboa has also sought the aid of foreign companies and governments, especially from the United States. He announced in March that Ecuador “established a strategic alliance” with Erik Prince, founder of Constellis, the private defense contractor formerly known as Blackwater, “to strengthen our capabilities in the fight against narcoterrorism.”

Noboa’s government has prepared to host American military forces at a new naval base on the Ecuadorian coast and has proposed the lift of a ban on foreign military bases that was established when Ecuador revised its constitution in 2008, CNN reported.