Correa triumphs in Ecuador

By Michael J.W. Stickings

So what's up in Ecuador? Well, the run-off vote between the top two candidates in last month's presidential election -- Alvaro Noboa (banana tycoon, Bible thumper, the country's richest man) and Rafael Correa (leftist economist with a Ph.D. from Chicago, populist, friend of Hugo Chavez) -- was held today, and, as the BBC is reporting, "exit polls and an unofficial quick count" put Correa well ahead of Noboa with around 57 percent of the vote. Correa has claimed victory. "We accept this victory with dignity and humility," he said. "We are just instruments of the power of the people." And he has "moved quickly to make policy announcements and appoint ministers".

And so -- for better or for worse -- the leftward drift of Latin America continues.