Democracy News

Ecuador’s President Wins Re-election in First Round of Voting
By Heather Konjura    
April 29, 2009 | Printer Friendly

On Sunday, April 26, 2009, Ecuadorians headed to the polls and re-elected their President, Rafael Correa, with 52 percent of the vote.  He is the first candidate to win in the first round of voting in Ecuador's 30-year-old democracy, which requires 40 percent to avoid a runoff with the second-place candidate.  Reuters writes that Mr. Correa won with a 24 percentage lead over his nearest rival, former President Lucio Gutierrez.

The New York Times writes that “Mr. Correa, who won approval of a new Constitution last September that eroded checks on the presidency, has emerged as Ecuador’s most powerful president since military rule ended here in 1979.”  Although Mr. Correa, the country’s tenth leader since 1996, had nearly two years left of his current term, the new constitution allows him to start again from scratch, and the new rules allow presidents to serve two consecutive four-year terms.  Therefore, Mr. Correa will have a chance to be re-elected in 2013. 

According to Reuters, Mr. Correa “vowed to protect the poor from the global financial crisis in his second, four-year term and said Ecuador's economy, which depends heavily on oil exports and is the world's largest banana exporter, was healthier than most.”  Reuters further writes that Correa has vowed to keep standing up to foreign investors and big oil companies after bringing relative stability to a country where street protests toppled three presidents in the decade before he took office in 2007.

Reuters writes that although Mr. Correa is closing down a U.S. airbase used for anti-drug flights and in February expelled two American diplomats, he still said that he respects President Barack Obama and wants to maintain “respectful” relations with the United States.

Sources:

Reuters – Ecuador's victorious Correa faces economic trials

The New York Times – Ecuador Re-elects President, Preliminary Results Show

Reuters – Correa set to gain easy victory as Ecuador votes

Reuters – Ecuador's Correa cruises to re-election victory