Correa ahead in poll on eve of Ecuador election (the good guy)

[arcos]

Correa ahead in poll on eve of Ecuador election

GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador (Reuters) - Leftist presidential candidate Rafael Correa pulled ahead in a poll on Saturday, a day before Ecuadorean voters decide whether he or banana mogul Alvaro Noboa will be the country's eighth ruler in a decade.

<snip>

The Cedatos-Gallup poll released on Saturday showed support for Correa surged to 54 percent while backing for Noboa dipped to 46 percent. The poll of 5,658 people was carried out on Friday and had a 3 percentage point margin of error.

About 17 percent of Ecuadoreans were still unsure about their mandatory vote as they decide who of the two candidates offers the best remedies to the political turmoil that has forced out three presidents in 10 years in the poor Andean country.

<snip>

Noboa, 56, a banana mogul who is Ecuador's wealthiest man, won an October first-round vote with a populist campaign offering jobs and cheap housing.

<snip>

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=winterOlympics&storyID=2006-11-25T213630Z_01_N19156110_RTRUKOC_0_US-ECUADOR-ELECTION.xml

This is great news, hopefully he will keep his momentum on to tomorrow's election and will win. Ecuador really doesn't need a right wing populist like Noboa.

[Flanker]

1. Good News

I just hope it is not a repeat of the first round.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Of course, Rafael Correa doesn't have a ton of money to use to buy votes, like Noboa ...............

Just saw this ugly note in the Houston Chronicle:

Nov. 25, 2006, 11:49PM
To some, democracy comes with a price tag
Many Latin Americans sell vote for concrete, cash, false teeth


By JOHN OTIS
South America Bureau

~snip~
Other ways of winning support may be legal but nonetheless smell fishy. In Ecuador, for instance, billionaire banana magnate Alvaro Noboa, the front-runner heading into today's presidential runoff, sometimes provided free medical care and wheelchairs to poor people who were then "encouraged" to join his political party.
(snip)

http://chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4358744.html

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By golly, it doesn't take a genius to see the world of difference between these two candidates. If Noboa wins, you'll know something goddawful has happened. Again. In Latin America.

Keep your fingers crossed for this WONDERFUL candidate who really cares about his country, and bringing it forward, out of bondage to the World Bank, etc. He actually has plans to HELP.



Noboa, on the other hand, seems determined to help himself.

[Flanker]

3. 3 exit polls say he won 57 to 43

http://noticias.eluniversal.com/2006/11/05/pol_art_58740.shtml