MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Tycoon and left wing outsider to dispute Ecuador's runoff

Ecuador is headed for a runoff presidential election between a charismatic leftwing outsider and the country's richest man following Sunday's vote when no candidate gained the required votes to win outright.

Former economy minister and economics lecturer Rafael Correa will run next November 26 against billionaire Alvaro Noboa, a banana magnate who gained momentum in the final weeks of campaigning with his populist and free market platform.

Correa on the other hand has praised Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and promised to usher in a citizen's revolution to help the poor, squeeze foreign oil companies and be a thorn in the side of the "tremendously dimwitted" US president, George Bush.

According to leading Ecuadorian pollsters Informe Confidencial and Cedatos Gallup, Mr Noboa won between 27-29% of votes while Mr Correa obtained 25-27% after Sunday's first round election.

Mr Noboa who during the campaign accused Correa of having his campaign partially financed by Venezuela's Chavez said that if elected he "would break relations with Venezuela because there are many suspicions in the whole of Latinamerica that the government of Hugo Chavez is interfering favoring certain candidates".

Mr. Correa who campaigned criticizing the "political establishment" is expected to dissolve the one chamber legislative and call elections for a constitutional assembly to reform the text.

From Caracas, President Chavez said that "in spite of treason, the Ecuadorian people are again voting looking for a popular government".

Chavez described Ecuador as a country with "its people dramatically impoverished, a dollarized economy, former member of OPEC with a gigantic foreign debt". He recalled that only a few years ago the Ecuadorian people elected Lucio Gutierrez, "full of hope but for different reasons it's all over".

"The oligarchy stabbed him in the back and then dumped him aside, a very painful process", said Chavez who also recalled that the Ecuadorian people did not come out to the streets to support Gutierrez because "he distanced himself from the people".

Contrary to other elections in the region when Chavez openly supported a presidential candidate triggering reactions from the rest, in Ecuador he has abstained although several presidential candidates, including Correa, consider themselves admirers of the Venezuelan leader.

From Washington Organization of American States Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza called for governance and stability.

"Elections are a good moment to reach consensuses" particularly in a country with ten years of political instability. In Ecuador "consensuses have been broken down for a long time and political disputes have consisted mainly in beating the adversary ignoring basic consensus rules". "I call on all candidates and leaders, to look for consensus and to concert political efforts, which will help sustain institutions and ensure governance", underlined Insulza.

Besides voting for president, approximately 9.2 million Ecuadorian were summoned to elect 100 members of the unicameral Congress; 5 Andean parliamentarians; 67 provincial councilors and 674 municipal representatives.