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Left leads in the polls as Ecuador heads into presidential election

ECUADOR goes to the polls on Sunday to choose a successor to President Lenin Moreno.

Left-wing candidate Andres Arauz Galarza of the Union for Hope has been leading in the polls, but must secure a 10-point lead over the second-placed candidate to avoid a second round.

He is backed by former president Rafael Correa, who has been banned from standing and whose voice and image Mr Arauz’s party has been banned from using.

Mr Moreno has held the presidency since 2017, having been Mr Correa’s vice-president and standing on a platform of continuing his socialist policies, which lifted millions out of poverty and kicked out the biggest US military base in the region.

But in power he followed a course of privatisation and realignment with the US, while purging supporters of his predecessor and driving him into exile.

He was forced to flee Quito amid mass unrest in 2019, but managed to return to power.

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