QUITO : Tight Presidential Race
As Ecuador’s May 17 presidential race goes into the final stretch, two conservative candidates are riding high in opinion polls. But no one looks like a clear winner, and a run-off in July appears certain.
President Rodrigo Borja’s Democratic Left Party, saddled with blame for inflation of more than 50% a year, appears headed for defeat. Polls say the front-runners are Sixto Duran Ballen, former mayor of Quito, and lawyer Jaime Nebot. Duran, 70, and Nebot, 45, were fellow members of the conservative Social Christian Party until last year, when Duran broke away and formed a new party.
Populist candidate Abdala Bucaram has been running a distant third in the polls, while the governing party’s Raul Baca, a former welfare minister, has lagged far behind. Borja is barred by the constitution from a second term.
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