The city of Machala is dotted with posters of Ecuador’s two presidential candidates, their smiling faces looking out over shuttered businesses and streets that empty out after 6 p.m. because of rival gangs that torment the city.
Machala, a port city south of Guayaquil, is a microcosm of the challenges facing the South American country — including chronic unemployment and a security crisis driven by a surge in drug violence — that many voters say are their biggest concerns ahead of the runoff election on Sunday.
The election pits the incumbent, President Daniel Noboa, the heir to a billionaire banana magnate who rose from political obscurity to win a truncated term after the previous president faced impeachment, against Luisa González, the handpicked successor of a populist titan of Ecuadorean politics.
Mr. Noboa has positioned himself as the tough-on-crime candidate, and as the politician best prepared to lead Ecuador on the global stage and negotiate with world leaders like President Trump.
Ms. González has been defined by her association with a former Ecuadorean president, Rafael Correa, who remains revered by many in the country eight years after he left office despite scandals and controversy.