ECUADOR: Presidential candidates to vie for Presidency in run-off election after polling results confirm no one candidate gained fifty percent majority needed to win

A right-wing tycoon and an ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will face a November run-off for Ecuador's presidency after neither candidate secured enough votes for a first-round election victory, preliminary results showed on Sunday (October 15, 2006). Banana mogul Alvaro Noboa, one of Ecuador's wealthiest men, held a slight edge after gaining surprising momentum to challenge frontrunner Rafael Correa, a leftist former finance minister who has spooked investors with talk of debt default. Noboa had won about 27 percent of votes and Correa 22 percent, according to preliminary results from nearly half of ballot boxes counted by authorities. The results may not represent national voting trends as ballot box vote counts are usually received first from cities. But the results echoed earlier exit polls and both candidates said the data showed a certain run-off. Little known until earlier this year, Correa, 43, had soared in the polls as Ecuadoreans fed up with the traditional political class were captured by his anti-establishment message and promises to sweep away the political old guard. But Noboa, on his third presidential run, lured voters with promises of jobs and housing in a populist campaign handing out wheelchairs, medicine and even cash. He played well on fears Correa would take Ecuador down a socialist path and roll back economic liberties. "I have checked with the electoral tribunal and I am in first place," Noboa said, celebrating in his tropical hometown of Guayaquil and urging voters to support him in a run-off. If no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the votes on Sunday or 40 percent of votes with a 10 percentage point advantage, a run-off will be held on Nov. 26 between the two contenders. Speaking to reporters, Correa dismissed the exit poll results as biased and said he had won the first round but had been victim of voting irregularities. "We are telling the people that we anticipate a much dirtier campaign to unfold. So have confidence in the candidates of the people because we are good people, like you," Correa said at a news conference. Correa's association with Chavez, promises to disband the discredited Congress and plans to restructure Ecuador's bonds have sent ripples through Wall Street and Washington, which is locked in an ideological standoff with the Venezuelan leader. Moderate leftist Leon Roldos, seen by some as the candidate offering stability, came third with around 16 percent of votes, according to early results. After three presidents were ousted in the last ten years and a 1999 economic crisis that triggered a debt default, many Ecuadoreans have turned away from their traditional politicians for failing to curb corruption and chronic instability. Voters are also electing a new 100-member Congress and hundreds of local government posts. Cracking his belt to symbolize the lashing he wants to give to the political elite, Correa promised to rewrite the constitution and curb old parties with a "citizen's revolution". He opposes a U.S. free trade deal and wants to stop the U.S. military operating in Ecuador. His anti-U.S. rhetoric has echoed that of Chavez, a former soldier who says he is leading a socialist revolution against U.S. influence in Latin America. Chavez has allied himself with Cuba and Bolivia's Evo Morales in opposition to Washington. A second round between the two candidates could be close. Noboa may draw on support from parties such as the Social Christians who see Correa as a threat to their influence. But Correa has appealed across the classes by capturing popular disenchantment with Congress.

ITN Source | October 16, 2006

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