Ecuador Run-Off Set To Polarize Nation

Ecuador is set for a run-off election on November 26 after none of the presidential candidates secured the majority necessary for a first-round win. With 63% of the ballots counted, banana magnate Álvaro Naboa surprised most analysts by taking 26.77% of the votes against 22.45% won by populist candidate Rafael Correa. The run-off is likely to highlight the socio-geographic divide in the Latin American nation, with the majority of Naboa’s support coming from middle-class voters on the coast around financial center Guayaquil and those of Correa centered on Quito. The markets were heartened by the showing of business leader Naboa, the third time he has run for president. Correa, a former economy minister, has alluded to a possible debt default should he win power, which recently has led to a sell-off in the country’s debt by some international investors. Ecuador’s voters have professed to being extremely cynical of their politicians. The country has had seven presidents in the past 10 years, with the most recent change of leader in April 2005 when former president Lucio Gutiérrez was ousted from government by Congress and replaced by an interim leader, the incumbent Alfredo Palacio.