Billionaire Leads Ecuador Poll, Forcing Chávez Ally Into Run-off

A pro-US banana tycoon will challenge an ally of Venezuela's Hugo Chávez for the presidency of Ecuador in a run-off next month after a bitter first round of voting.

In a race splintered between 11 candidates, billionaire Alvaro Noboa led with 27% of the vote with more than 70% of ballots counted, according to the country's electoral tribunal.

His unexpectedly strong showing relegated the frontrunner, Rafael Correa, a political outsider and fierce critic of the Bush administration, to second place, with 22%.

The clash between two candidates with vastly different personalities and visions exposed the Andean nation's polarisation and set the scene for a volatile campaign for the November 26 run-off. Mr Correa, 43, a university professor and former finance minister, has echoed the rhetoric of Venezuela's radical president by promising a citizens' revolution that would shun free trade with the US and close its small military base in Ecuador.

If the political establishment unites against him Mr Correa could disappoint those hoping for a resurgence of Latin America's "pink tide" following recent left-wing election defeats in Mexico and Peru. Mr Correa alleged fraud and irregularities in Sunday's poll and warned his supporters to be vigilant during the next vote. A Noboa victory would turn Ecuador into a private banana plantation, he said.

Mr Noboa, 55, a billionaire who has twice before run for the presidency, promised to take Ecuador towards "Spain, Chile, the U.S. and Italy, where there is liberty" as opposed to "Correa's position of communism, dictatorship, of Cuba".