QUITO : Presidential Runoff

Sixto Duran, 70, a conservative former mayor of Quito, is favored to win Ecuador’s presidential runoff election Sunday against Jaime Nebot, 45, a Social Christian Party lawyer from the port city of Guayaquil.

Duran, founder of the Republican Unity Party, outpolled fellow conservative Nebot 32% to 25% in the first round of voting, and a recent public opinion survey gave him an 18% advantage in the runoff. A traditional rivalry between the coast and the more populous highlands is expected to influence voting by some of the 5.7 million electors. An architect, Duran was mayor of the capital from 1970 to 1978.