probably too late to sell your Ecuador bonds
Ecuador leftist ahead in election By Patrick Markey
QUITO, Ecuador (Reuters) - Ecuador’s leftist Rafael Correa, an ally
of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez, was headed for victory after
Sunday’s run-off for the country’s eighth presidency in a decade,
three exit polls showed.
Correa’s rival Alvaro Noboa, Ecuador’s wealthiest man, dismissed the
poll results and said he believed he had won the second-round vote.
He said he could demand a review of the ballots if necessary after
official results are released.
An election victory by the former finance minister Correa would
bolster Chavez’s campaign to unite left-wing Latin American
governments in a turf war to counter U.S. influence and free-trade
policies with his own brand of socialist proposals.
Correa, a U.S.-trained economist who worried Wall Street with talk of
debt renegotiation, had marketed himself as an outsider to woo
Ecuadoreans frustrated with poverty and years of instability in the
world’s top banana exporter.
“He has won the candidacy of the people,” said Gustavo Larrea, the
head of Correa’s campaign and possible interior minister under his
government. “We are on a new path and in a new moment.”
A Cedatos-Gallups poll and an independent poll carried out for local
Teleamazonas television showed Correa with around 57 percent of the
vote while Noboa had around 43 percent. A survey carried out by local
firm Market for a regional channel showed Correa with 57.9 percent to
Noboa’s 42.01 percent.
Initial official results will be announced later on Sunday.