Unofficial vote count confirms Correa victory
By DPA
Nov 26, 2006, 19:00 GMT
Quito - The preliminary vote count confirmed exit surveys released with the close of polls in Ecuador, suggesting that left- wing populist Rafeal Correa had easily won the presidential runoff.
With 41 per cent of votes counted, Correa had more than 56 per cent, while right-wing opponent Alvaro Noboa had less than 44 per cent, the central electoral commission reported, barely one hour after polling stations closed.
Exit polls by Cedatos-Gallup Internacional had given Correa around 57 per cent of the vote, with banana tycoon Noboa at 43 per cent. The margin of error was 2 per cent.
Another exit poll carried out by the consulting firm Barreto y Asociados showed similar results.
Official results will be known within 48 hours, according to electoral authorities in Ecuador.
The economist Correa, 43, has maintained a radical stance on Ecuador's foreign debt and has opposed currently stalled negotiations toward a free-trade agreement with the United States. He has portrayed himself as a friend of controversial Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
'This is a citizen triumph, and it is Ecuadorians who deserve to be congratulated,' said Gustavo Larrea, political coordinator of Correa's campaign.
He said that Correa would speak within a few hours 'to establish a path at the national and international level.'
'We are on a new path, at a point of consolidation of democracy, of the rule of law and of fulfilling the promise of changes,' Larrea said.
Noboa, however, cast doubt on the exit polls. The richest man in Ecuador referred to a poll by Colombian firm Consultar - hired by himself - which unlike other studies says the businessman won.
Noboa - who was seeking the Presidency for the third time - said he trusts only the Consultar poll and the official vote count of Ecuador's Supreme Electoral Tribunal.
'Polls boosted Correa in these few weeks,' said the magnate, 56.
The winner of the second-round election will be inaugurated for a four-year term on January 15, 2007, becoming Ecuador's eighth president within 10 years.
Whoever wins the elections faces the challenge of governing a politically volatile country with more than 13 million people.
The most recent example was populist Lucio Gutierrez, who was elected president in November 2002. An angry Ecuadorian Congress ousted him in 2005 after he dissolved the Supreme Court and appointed new judges who had lifted an arrest warrant for corruption against a former president.
In the first-round presidential election on October 15, Noboa won a plurality with 26 per cent of the ballots, while Correa was a close second at 22 per cent. The two 'anti-politicians' relegated Ecuador's major parties to minor roles.
On Saturday, the Organization of American States removed the head of its 120-member observer mission for the Ecuadorian elections, after accusations that Rafael Bielsa showed bias during the first round of voting, OAS sources said Sunday in Quito.
Former Argentine foreign minister Bielsa was replaced by former Chilean senator Jose Maria Viera.
Correa had criticized Bielsa for allegedly favouring Noboa.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
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