Latest Castro-Chavez admirer takes lead in Ecuador's presidential election - Southern Situation

yahoo.com ^ | October 21, 2002 | MONTE HAYES, AP

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Two candidates fighting for lead in Ecuador's presidential Election

GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador - Two candidates were fighting for the lead in Ecuador's presidential race Sunday, setting the stage for a second round in the closest election since democracy was restored in 1979, early results showed.

With 53.6 percent of the votes counted, Lucio Gutierrez, 45, a dismissed army colonel who is an admirer of Fidel Castro and Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez, led with 19 percent of the vote.

Banana magnate Alvaro Noboa, 51, was close behind with 17.6 percent, and the two appeared headed for a runoff election on Nov. 24.

Two other candidates, former President Rodrigo Borja and Xavier Neira, both accepted their defeat. That left moderate leftist Leon Roldos, who had 15.87 percent but his chances of making the runoff were slipping away.

The remaining votes were divided among six candidates. A second round between the two top vote-getters takes place if no candidate receives 50 percent.

Carlos Aguinaga, president of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, said many votes remained to be counted before a winner could be announced.

Gutierrez, who led a coup in 2000 that ousted an unpopular president, said it was significant that neither he nor Noboa, Ecuador's wealthiest businessman, was a professional politician.

"It is a sign that the Ecuadorean people are tired of the same politicians of always," he said. "Who is responsible for the country that we have? We have one of the most corrupt, unjust countries, with the greatest inequalities and greatest migration, in Latin America and the world. The moment has arrived to tell those politicians who do not understand the true concept of democracy: Enough."

International election monitors have said they have found no evidence to support fears of electoral fraud. But the distrust displayed by the candidates has raised concern that disappointed losers may take to the streets in protest after the election.

"In past elections there was always a clear sense of which two candidates would be in the second round but not this time," said Carlos Navarrete Castillo, editor of Guayaquil's El Telegrafo newspaper. "There are definitely going to be protests."

At least 30 percent of Ecuadoreans were undecided how to vote just days before the election, reflecting their disenchantment with politicians after years of political and economic turmoil. Absenteeism in the voting reached 34 percent, an all-time high since democracy was restored in 1979 after a decade of dictatorship.

The campaigns of all the presidential candidates revolved around vague plans to combat widespread corruption and poverty.

Ecuador's two-decade-old democracy has suffered trying times in recent years. Since 1996 the country has had five presidents, two of them driven from office in the midst of political and economic upheaval.

[Tailgunner Joe]

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