Yet another leftist voted into office in S. America
QUITO, Nov 27: Rafael Correa, a friend of Venezuela's anti-US president, joined the tide of leftist leaders elected to office in South America, according partial results of Ecuador's run-off presidential election out on Monday.
His election marked another blow to Washington's influence in the region and comes on the heels of an electoral comeback in Nicaragua of US Cold War foe Daniel Ortega, 16 years after the then revolutionary leader was voted out of office.
A projection after Sunday's voting gave Correa 56.9 per cent to 43.1 per cent for his rival Alvaro Noboa, a conservative, Bible-thumping banana baron.
With close to half the votes tallied on Monday morning, Correa had 68 per cent, but the vote count was suspended during the night in the Guayas province, a Noboa stronghold, as officials considered requests to recount some of the ballots already tallied.
The conservative candidate insisted on Sunday night he was headed to victory and dismissed three exit polls and a projection to the contrary.
Correa already celebrated his triumph calling out “until victory always” -- the slogan of late iconic revolutionary leader Ernesto “Che” Guevara -- to cheers from thousands of supporters who crowded a downtown Quito avenue during the night.He pledged he would not sign a free trade agreement with the United States, vowed to seek closer ties with Venezuela and said Ecuador would apply to rejoin the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Ecuador, which produces over 540,000 barrels of crude a day, much of it exported to the United States, left the oil cartel in 1992.
Correa has stirred unease in financial markets with his calls to revise foreign oil companies' contracts in Ecuador, renegotiate foreign debt and expel the World Bank representative.—AFP
