QUITO, (Reuters) – Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa cruised to a re-election victory yesterday as voters ignored a sputtering economy to make the charismatic socialist the OPEC nation’s most powerful leader in a generation.
Correa won 51 percent of the vote with a 20 point lead over his nearest rival, according to a quick count authorized by electoral authorities.
The result makes him the first president to avoid a run-off election at least since Ecuador returned to democracy in 1979.
Supporters packed Correa’s party headquarters in Quito waving green flags and shouting “Just one round, Ecuador.”
“The people…have given us the most splendorous victory of probably the last 50 years,” Correa said at a press conference in his home town of Guayaquil.
The 46-year-old vowed to protect the poor from the global financial crisis in his new four-year term and said Ecuador’s economy was healthier than many countries.
His main opponent, Lucio Gutierrez, said he could not accept defeat until official results were published and charged that fraud had been detected at some polling stations.
Correa has vowed to keep standing up to foreign investors and big oil companies after bringing relative stability to a country where street protests toppled three presidents in the decade before he took office in 2007.
But the fierce nationalist must now tackle a weakening economy and sliding oil revenues to deliver on his promises of more housing and jobs or he risks eroding his popularity in the world’s top banana exporter.
“Correa is being watched by all Ecuadoreans and should continue with adequate social spending, if not his administration will not last long,” said veterinarian Karen Cabrera, 32, after voting in Guayaquil.
