Correa on brink of history in Ecuador
Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa due to win second term, exit polls show
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Monday, 27, Apr 2009 12:02
Left-wing firebrand Rafael Correa has declared victory in the Ecuadorian presidential elections after early polls gave him an unassailable lead.
The 46-year-old is due to become the first person to claim two consecutive presidential terms in more than a century.
Ecuador, which once had ten presidents in as many years following the end of military rule in the 1970s, has not elected a president without the need of a run-off for 30 years.
Early polls gave Mr Correa 54 per cent of the vote, far ahead of his nearest rival Lucio Gutierrez, who was put on 28 per cent.
"This revolution is on the march, and nobody and nothing can stop us," the president, who has doubled spending on healthcare, education and pensions through rising oil revenues, said in his hometown of Guayaquil.
"The people have given us the most splendid victory of probably the last 50 years."