Rafael Correa leads in race for third term in Ecuador

Ecuadorians go to the polls Sunday for presidential elections in which polls heavily favor Rafael Correa winning a third term during the first round of voting.

The left-leaning Correa has been in office since 2007 after he won his first term on the second round. He was re-elected in 2009 after the country's Constitution was modified to change the structures of government and lift presidential term limits.

In all, eight candidates are running in Sunday's race, in which voters will also elect members to the National Assembly.

Álvaro Noboa, a banana magnate who lost the 2006 race to Correa, was expected to hold a large rally in Quito on Wednesday. Also running is Lucio Gutiérrez, the former president and ex-general who helped lead a 2000 civic-military coup against then-President Jamil Mahuad.

The National Electoral Council (CNE) on Wednesday continued distributing ballots across the country and in other nations with high populations of Ecuadorian migrants. In Spain, voters will cast their ballots at 287 voting tables around the country.

According to the latest opinion polls by the Specialized Research and Study Center (CIEES), Correa, the Alianza País candidate, will get 56 percent of the votes. Behind him is banker Guillermo Lasso, with 21 percent, and Gutiérrez with six percent.