Leftist re-elected in Ecuador

Published: February 18. 2013 4:00AM PST

Supporters of President Rafael Correa of Ecuador gather Sunday to celebrate after presidential elections in Quito. Correa, a fiery-tongued leftist who has endeared himself to the lower classes by expanding Ecuador’s welfare state but drawn wide rebuke for intolerance of dissent, breezed to a second re-election on Sunday. The U.S.-educated economist won 56.9 percent of the vote against 23.8 percent for his closest challenger, former banker Guillermo Lasso, with 57 percent of the vote counted. Correa, 48, called the outcome a victory for his “citizens’ revolution" and promised to further reduce poverty, which the United Nations says has dropped nearly five percentage points to 32.4 percent since he first took office in 2007. — The Associated Press
Dominique Riofrio / The Associated Press

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