Ecuador's closer-than-expected presidential election is likely headed for an April runoff between two very different candidates who have faced each other three times already.

Incumbent president Daniel Noboa and leftist Luisa Gonzalez both hail from the country's populous Pacific coastal belt, are sporty and telegenic, and have several tattoos.

But that's where the similarities end.

Noboa, 37, is the mega-rich scion of a billion-dollar banana empire, while Gonzalez, a single mother and lawyer 10 years his elder, recalls running around shoeless while growing up in humble surroundings.

Noboa's brand of youthful cool mixed with security hawkishness has made him one of the most popular politicians in a country of 18 million people beset by narco violence.

It has also made him one of the youngest elected political leaders in the world.

One day he can be found on Instagram in a crisp white T-shirt and sneakers, strumming a song by the Goo Goo Dolls on an acoustic guitar and crooning along in English.

The next, he's striding, shirt-unbuttoned, shoulder-to-shoulder with heavily armed soldiers, or donning a bulletproof vest to lead........

© International Business Times