Ecuador's Correa Has 51.88% Of Vote With 77.81% Counted

[bemildred]

Source: Dow Jones

QUITO (Dow Jones)--Leftist president Rafael Correa has 51.88% of the votes from Sunday's election for president with 77.81% of the votes counted, Ecuador's National Electoral Council said Tuesday.

The government's elections agency said former President Lucio Gutierrez has 28% of the valid votes and banana magnate Alvaro Noboa has 11.60% of the vote.

In order to score a first-round victory, Correa must receive at least 40% of the valid votes and have a margin of more than 10 percentage points over the next rival.

More than 10.5 million people were eligible to cast ballots.


Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090428-711403.html

[Peace Patriot]

1. It's important to note that this Correa victory is in a field of 7 candidates, and that

Correa got challenged from the left, on environmental and indigenous tribe issues, with a strong candidate--a woman--who was drawing 10% of the votes from Correa in pre-election polls. It's interesting that our corpo/fascist media doesn't mention this. In other words, the Left--in total--is likely winning by a landslide (approx. 60%--similar to the vote on the new Constitution, and more in line with Correa's general approval ratings, which are in the 60% to 70% range). Correa plus those to the left of him are the great majority in Ecuador.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Thanks for pointing out the support Correa and leftists do maintain in Ecuador,which our media won't

bother to acknowledge. They apparently don't want any of us, like Barbara Bush, to let details like that concern us and our "beautiful minds."

This is a spectacular election result.

[Robbien]

7. Nice to see that the challenge from the left got so much support

It helps Correa in his bid to help the indigenous.

[Blue_Tires]

2. Ecuador’s Correa wins second term, vows ’socialist revolution’

After Sunday’s resounding victory gave him a second term, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa sounded the tune of ally Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.

Onward with the “socialist revolution!” he told his supporters after exit polls showed he’d won by a wide margin over his nearest competitor in an eight-candidate field. Official results are expected today.

But how far Mr. Correa will - or will be able to - go to consolidate that power remains an open question.

Sunday’s race was mandated by a far-reaching constitution approved by voters in September – a move that followed in the footsteps of allies Mr. Chávez and President Evo Morales of Bolivia and certainly consolidated Correa’s power.

But Correa is not a Chávez clone. Yes, he has not shied away from criticizing the US and taking controversial steps such as defaulting on foreign debt and imposing steep tariffs on 630 imported goods.

http://features.csmonitor.com/globalnews/2009/04/27/ecuadors-correa-wins-second-term-vows-socialist-revolution/

[David__77]

3. A socialist commonwealth is developing in the Americas.

Ecuador, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua... It's a good thing.

[arikara]

4. Agreed, they are light years ahead of us here in Canada

there is nothing for us here except the same tired old neo-cons / neo-libs working overtime to give our resources away to the corporations. Our provincial election in BC has all the excitement of cleaning toilets... same old bastards running again, no new faces or change to hope for. Ugh.

[Judi Lynn]

12. Ha, ha. Corporate media just won't stoop to writing clean news stories on leftists.

They just don't have it in them to co-exist with people of differing viewpoints.

Here's an article written by a virulently anti-Chavez opposition newspaper in Caracas:

CARACAS, Monday April 27, 2009
Chávez congratulates Rafael Correa on his reelection
Latin America

Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez congratulated his ally and Ecuadorian counterpart Rafael Correa on his "overwhelming victory" in the elections held on Sunday. 46-year-old Correa was re-elected by a large margin.

According to a statement released by the Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chávez spoke by telephone with its Ecuadorian counterpart after the election results that gave Correa a new four-year mandate were known, Reuters reported.

"Correa has been 'relegitimized' by the Ecuadorian people, who recognize in him a leader who does not hesitate to advocate the interests of his homeland and does not yield an inch to the strong pressures and the blackmail of the oligarchs, in his effort to build the project of a great homeland in our hemisphere, from a true 21st-century socialist vision," the statement said.

http://english.eluniversal.com/2009/04/27/en_pol_art_chavez-congratulates_27A2307753.shtml

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Apparently the right-wing-controlled media can't bring themselves to grasp the possibility that the moderates and leftists may one day hold the majority EVERYWHERE, and their own credibility will have been long since repudiated. They seem to think we are simply stuck with them.

[Judi Lynn]

6. Uh, oh! Did you know Rafael Correa speaks French? Here he is, on a French news show:

http://www.dailymotion.com/group/115454/video/x5fc2f_raphael-correa-tv5-monde_news

On edit:

He also speaks Quechua, as well as English.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

8. I believe his wife is from Belgium. She definitely speaks Spanish. I'm not sure what

other languages she can speak.

[Judi Lynn]

9. Didn't know that! Interesting. I read he attended some university there.

I just went and looked for a photo of both of them, here's one:



Getty Images 27 months ago
"Ecuadorean new President Rafael Correa (R) his wife Anne Malherbe and his youngest son Miguel (L) leave the National Congress in Quito 15 January, 2007. Correa took on striving to transform the most unstable country of the region into a satellite of the new leftist socialism."

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

10. I watched her in an interview and if I recall she said she didn't care for the term "primera dama"

or first lady. She found it pretentious. She seemed pretty down to earth. This was a few years back before Pres. Correa's first election.

[Judi Lynn]

11. Good to see people breaking away from the role playing, isn't it? It's about time. n/t

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

13. No doubt. nt

[bemildred]

14. U.S. congratulates Correa on re-election victory as Ecuadorian president

WASHINGTON, April 28 (Xinhua) -- The United States on Tuesday congratulated Rafael Correa on his re-election victory as Ecuador's president, saying Washington hopes for cooperation with the Ecuadorian government on common concerns.

"We salute the people of Ecuador for conducting peaceful and transparent elections on April 26, 2009, and congratulate President Correa on his victory," said State Department Deputy Spokesman Robert Wood at the daily press briefing.

"And the United States will continue to build on our cooperation with Ecuador consistent with our commitment to supporting Ecuadorian democracy, prosperity and security," said the spokesman.

Correa, a U.S.-educated economist, declared re-election victory on Sunday. He became the first president to win re-election in the Andean country since 1972.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/29/content_11276285.htm

[LostinVA]

15. I hope he's well protected

The US's Black Ops insanity in Latin America is the stuff of fiction.

[New Dawn]

16. K&R