QUITO, Ecuador (AP) -- A leftist outsider whose attacks on a corrupt political establishment have fueled his rise in popularity was facing a tough challenge in Sunday's presidential election from a banana tycoon waging an old-fashioned populist campaign.
Rafael Correa, 43, a U.S.
-educated economist, is an admirer of Venezuela's anti-U.S. firebrand President Hugo Chavez, and his victory could further tilt Latin America to the left, joining left-leaning governments in Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.
Tall and charismatic, Correa has surged into the lead by pledging a citizens' revolution against the discredited political system. Ecuadorans have driven the last three elected presidents from power, and Correa appeals to voters as a fresh face in a field of established politicians.
Standing in his way is Alvaro Noboa, 55, Ecuador's wealthiest man, who proudly points out he is also its biggest investor, the owner of 110 companies.
He says he will use his business skills to bring Ecuador's poor into the middle class.
Making his third run for the presidency, Noboa has moved up quickly in the polls in recent days to a close second to Correa with his promises to provide cheap housing and create a million jobs in this small Andean nation of 13.4 million people, 76 percent of whom are poor, according to UNICEF.
No candidate in the field of 13 was expected to win outright on Sunday, meaning the two top finishers would go to a runoff on November 26.
Polls this week showed Correa and Noboa far ahead of the other two candidates who had been in contention until recently: center-left former Vice President Leon Roldos, 64, and Cynthia Viteri, 40, a conservative former congresswoman who is pro-business.
To avoid a runoff, a candidate would need 50 percent, or at least 40 percent of the valid vote and a 10-point lead over the rest.
Correa, who was running in fourth place until a month ago, has gathered support quickly with his view of Ecuadoran democracy as a partidocracia -- a system that benefits parties, not people. Many Ecuadorans share his view.
Citizens are fed up.
We need a profound political reform, including a new generation of leaders, he told The Associated Press on Saturday, adding that he hoped to be able to accomplish the changes within a strict respect for the constitution.
He appealed to the 30 percent of voters still unsure whom to vote for, saying: To those who have not decided their votes, we understand their skepticism. They have been deceived too many times, but they should not let themselves lose hope.
Correa, who has a doctorate in economics from the University of Illinois, is new to politics. He served just 106 days last year as finance minister under interim President Alfredo Palacio, who replaced Lucio Gutierrez in the midst of street protests in April 2005.
Correa calls the Ecuadoran Congress a sewer and has vowed to rally street protests if lawmakers don't agree to a new constitution that trims the power of the parties and strengthens the presidency.
Correa is running no candidates for Congress, and plans instead to hold a referendum, followed by the election of an assembly to rewrite the constitution.
Correa is exploiting the angry vote. There are many people angry with the system, said public opinion analyst Luis Eladio Proano.
That anger has found a man who says he is going to destroy everything.
But populism runs deep in Ecuadoran politics, and Noboa has tapped into the tradition to power his campaign.
With a Bible under his arm and frequent references to God in his speeches, Noboa has crisscrossed Ecuador, from its Pacific coast to the Andes and eastward to the Amazon jungle, handing out computers, medicine and money.
Ecuadorans want to eat. They don't want these political speeches of bla-bla-bla, Noboa said in a recent candidates' debate. They want jobs, housing, they want health coverage, they want education.
That's why the other candidates don't have the popular support I do.
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