You may wonder how the recent elections in Ecuador have impacted visitors. Well, thankfully elections in Ecuador have been largely uneventful, with some rallies and peaceful protests taking place. No violence.

The biggest impact for tourists in Ecuador during elections this year was the lack of alcohol.

As is customary during Ecuador elections, there is an alcohol ban put in place leading up to big day. So, while election results began to come in last night it was fairly quiet in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, well quieter than usual.

Some tourists were a bit confused, or taken aback, as they were refused beers in restaurants while ordering dinner, but with police walking around it wasn’t worth the risk for any establishments to break the rules for a few tourism dollars.

After a couple of weeks of having taxi’s on San Cristobal Island driving around blasting the catchy, yet slightly annoying “Lenin Presidente, Lenin Lenin Presidente” song, the Presidential elections have ended.

As for the election results, perhaps that simple song was effective in giving Lenin Moreno, of the Alianza País Party, the edge for his narrow victory? Comparatively, conservative leader Guillermo Lasso had very little promotional campaigning going on here in the Galapagos. Other parts of the country of course were likely different, but it was an interesting observation to see how one-sided the efforts seemed to be at least on this one island in Ecuador.

The close results mean Lasso has not admitted defeat and has made accusations of voter fraud. Perhaps the story isn’t quite over yet, but as far as tourism goes right now - business as usual in Ecuador.