Informant38

The people of Ecuador have elected a former coup leader who has pledged to fight corruption as their sixth president in six years, results showed today.

Lucio Gutierrez, 45, won 54.3% of yesterday's runoff vote, beating the 45.7% awarded to his billionaire rival in the bitter election campaign, Alvaro Noboa.

Mr Gutierrez's supporters included a small Marxist party, radical Indian groups and leftwing unions, leading his opponents to fear his stance would scare away potential investors.

But since he won the first round of elections on October 20, Mr Gutierrez has toned down his rhetoric and described himself as "centre-left". He travelled to New York to woo Wall Street investors, and softened his opposition to the US military's use of Ecuador's Manta airbase for operations targeting the drugs trade.