Quito - Ecuador's leftist President Rafael Correa was re- elected Sunday with 54 per cent of the first-round vote, according to survey data broadcast by television channel Ecuavis from an exit poll by the government-hired pollster Santiago Perez. According to the exit survey, former Ecuadorian president Lucio Gutierrez (2003-05) was a distant second at 31 per cent.
"Nothing is stopping this revolution," the left-wing populist Correa told supporters.
A different exit poll, by the firm Cedatos-Gallup Internacional, estimated 55 per cent of the votes for Correa, with 27 per cent for Gutierrez.
In order to avoid a runoff, the socialist Correa, 46, needs to capture either a majority of the vote, or a plurality of more than 40 per cent with a margin of at least 10 percentage points over the second-place candidate.
Further, a quick count based on real ballots by the firm Participacion Ciudadana estimated that 51 per cent of the vote would got to Correa with 31 per cent for Gutierrez. The quick count was based on actual vote samples counted by 9,500 volunteers at polling stations across the country.
The support for Gutierrez - who was sacked as president by Congress in 2005, half-way through his term - was the only surprise of an election that Correa had been strongly favoured to win.
Surveys before the election had put Gutierrez at no more than 14 per cent. Opposition voters appeared to have coalesced around Gutierrez on election day, but it was still far short of what he needed to force the incumbent into a runoff.
Correa criticized "the immense power" of Ecuador's right wing, noting that Gutierrez was supported by some of the same conservatives who had helped to oust the former leader in 2005.
"Let the homeland finally belong to everyone," Correa said. "Until victory, always."
No major incidents were reported during Sunday's voting, with some 10 million people registered to cast their ballots. There were some minor logistical problems, including delays and isolated instances of campaigning in polling stations, which is illegal.
Observers from the European Union and the Organization of American States were in attendance and noted that the voting process was orderly.
Preliminary official results for the presidential election were expected to be released late Sunday, though broader results were likely to take longer, with 6,000 elected positions at stake at both the local and national level.
In Guayaquil - Correa's native city and the Andean country's financial centre - Mayor Jaime Nebot, a symbol of the opposition to the president, was himself re-elected with 69 per cent of the ballots, according to exit polls.
The election was historic in Ecuador as the first in which an incumbent president sought re-election. This was the South American country's fourth national balloting in 28 months since Correa was first elected president.
If official results confirm Correa's victory, he would win a four- year term. Under the new constitution, he would still be eligible to seek re-election to another four-year mandate.
