Ecuador's leftist presidential candidate Rafael Correa on Saturday expressed his wish to seek strong ties with the the United States, one day before voters decide whether he or his conservative rival Alvaro Noboa will win the presidential run-off.

Correa told reporters that he hoped the Ecuador-U.S. ties "will be the best possible," as a poll on Saturday showed Correa, a former finance minister, ahead of Noboa by eight percentage points before Sunday's run-off.

Correa added that Ecuador had credible information that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency had made some interference with the first round of Ecuador's presidential election.

He said "new Latin American left" represented by him is removing the neo-liberal model the "Washington Consensus" imposed on the region's economy.

"Washington Consensus" refers to the idea promoted by the U.S. and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over the past two decades that the market, centering on more open trade and privatization, is the best solution to reducing poverty.

Businessman Noboa, of the Renewed National Institutional Action Party, led all other candidates with 26.8 percent of the votes in the Oct. 15 Ecuadorian elections, and Correa, of the National Alliance Movement, came second with 22.8 percent.

The winner in the Nov. 26 runoff will take office on Jan. 15, 2007 for a four-year term that ends in 2011.

Source: Xinhua