ECUADOR: A banana magnate who portrays himself as a friend of the poor and a young economist close to Venezuela's mercurial leader, Hugo Chavez, will face each other in a presidential election runoff on November 26th after neither obtained enough votes to win in a first-round election yesterday in this chronically unstable country.
With 51 per cent of the vote counted, Alvaro Noboa (55), one of the wealthiest men in Latin America, had 27 per cent to 22 per cent for Rafael Correa (43), a charismatic former finance minister who has sharply criticised the Bush administration.
The election in this tiny, mountainous country of 13 million bordering Colombia and Peru has attracted widespread attention beyond its borders because of the rapid rise of Mr Correa, an economist who promises to overturn Ecuador's old economic order and calls for a constitutional assembly that could dissolve the National Congress.
Calling himself a friend of Mr Chavez, who has become Washington's leading antagonist in Latin America, Mr Correa says his government would close a US military base in Ecuador, crack down on multinational companies and possibly declare a moratorium on foreign debt. If he wins next month, he will join a growing list of left-leaning leaders in Latin America.
"We need someone who comes from the people. The others are just moneyed people. They want power. They have the money, but no ideas," said Fanny Ceron (38), a nurse, moments after casting her ballot for Mr Correa.
Mr Correa faces a formidable challenge from Mr Noboa, who has spent $2.5 million on his campaign, far more than any other candidate, casting himself as a populist.
This is Mr Noboa's third try at the presidency. He lost in 1998 and 2002. At campaign rallies he gives away T-shirts, wheelchairs and even cash. He pays for mobile medical clinics run by his wife, Anabella Azin, a physician who also has political aspirations.
His campaign ads have attacked Mr Correa as a dangerous extremist who would align Ecuador with Venezuela and Fidel Castro's Cuba, bringing more instability to a country that has had seven presidents in 10 years.
"Correa is selling hope," said Blasco Penaherrera, a businessman and president of the Quito Chamber of Commerce, who does not support Mr Correa. "I'm sure his opponents are going to sell panic."
Support for Mr Noboa surged in the past three weeks. He was a distant fourth as recently as September 20th, but in recent days he has passed out Leon Roldos, a former vice-president who had led in the campaign but began a fast slide last month.
On Sunday evening as results began to come in, Mr Noboa charged that Ecuador would become another Cuba under Mr Correa. "Rafael Correa's posture is communist, dictatorial," he said on Ecuadoran television. He also denied employing child labourers on his banana farms - an accusation first made in a 124-page Human Rights Watch report in 2002.
Mr Noboa once made the Forbes 500 list of the world's richest people, and has frequently boasted about his friendship with various American luminaries.
A slick campaign has sidestepped questions about his businesses and has resonated with people such as Jorge Teran (46), a technician who is fed up with a lack of progress in Ecuador.
Mr Teran said he likes Mr Noboa's plans to increase the state oil company's production and his promise to build affordable housing and create jobs. He also feels he may benefit from divine intervention: "I think he brings up God so often that he must have sensibilities in his soul," Mr Teran said.
Even though Ecuador is the continent's second largest exporter of oil to the United States, after Venezuela, most of its people are poor and underemployed.
"We've had lots of populists here," said Vladimir Pena (33), an accountant. "And what happens is they last six months, and that's it." He spoiled his ballot.
