ECUADOR: LEFTIST ECONOMIST RAFAEL CORREA WINS SECOND ROUND OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.
Economist Rafael Correa won Ecuador's presidential election on Nov. 26, beating businessman Alvaro Noboa by over 800,000 votes, a margin of more than 13%. Correa led his party Alianza Pais, a new group in Ecuadoran politics, to an overwhelming victory in the runoff election, surprising pollsters' pre-vote surveys calling the contest a statistical tie. Noboa, running with his Partido Renovador Institucional Accion Nacional (PRIAN), had come away with the most votes in the first round on Oct. 15 (see NotiSur, 2006-10-20), but Ecuadorans ultimately favored Correa's promises that he would reform the country's institutions and remove the old guard's hold on power. Although he enjoys a strong mandate, Correa now faces a Congress composed mostly of opposition-party members (see NotiSur, 2006-11-10).
Correa is the latest prominent Latin American leftist and opponent of US policy to win a presidential term by a big majority, joining figures like Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, Evo Morales in Bolivia, Tabare Vazquez in Uruguay, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Brazil, and Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, the latter two having recently won re-election campaigns.
Correa's large victory margin contradicts pre-vote polling
Official confirmation of Correa's victory took more than a week, with the Tribunal Supremo Electoral (TSE) naming him president-elect on Dec. 4, eight days after the election. However, agencies like the Organization of American States (OAS) and several foreign governments recognized Correa's win shortly after his lead became insurmountable.
Hesitating little, Correa claimed victory the night of the vote, based on multiple exit polls that showed him leading with about 57% of the vote, with that number varying slightly survey to survey.
When the TSE released its final count, Correa's lead stood at 13.34%, representing an 828,217-vote advantage over Noboa. Correa took 56.67% or 3,517,635 of the valid votes, while Noboa had 43.33% or 2,689,418. An additional 70,073 ballots were blank and 680,533 were nullified.
In Ecuador, 9,165,125 people are qualified to vote, 4,623,363 women and 4,541,762 men. The abstention rate in the runoff stood at 25.36%. These figures were taken as the TSE had 99.81% of the vote counted. Voting is compulsory in Ecuador.
Although the TSE had said official results would be ready 48 hours after the close of polling stations at 5 p.m. Nov. 26, 187 hours went by before the final count was available, according to Quito daily newspaper El Comercio. One of the main causes of the delay was a holdup in the transfer of ballots from abroad to Ecuador. There was also a delay in counting votes from the provinces of Azuay and Morona Santiago.
The election also included a referendum on three questions on investments in social...
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