Leftist lawyer leads as violence-hit Ecuador heads to run-off poll

Leftist frontrunner Luisa Gonzalez looked set to take on a surprise candidate, the youthful son of one of Ecuador's richest men, in a run-off election in October, official results showed Sunday.

Gonzalez, a lawyer close to divisive former socialist president Rafael Correa, was leading with 33 percent of the vote, as 80 percent of the vote was counted.

President of the National Electoral Council Diana Atamaint said results showed no candidate had hit the threshold to win outright, after a tense day of voting under heavy security.

"We are heading to a second round election on October 15," she told journalists.

Gonzalez will likely go head to head with Daniel Noboa, 35, who had 24 percent of the vote despite not figuring as a favorite in opinion polls ahead of a chaotic election marred by the assassination of a serious contender.

"We are making history," Gonzalez said, hailing her "triumph" in the first round. Noboa, said the "youth" had chosen him to beat Correa's party.

The run-off election is set for October 15, and the stakes are high in a once-peaceful nation engulfed by drug violence.

The small South American country has in recent years become a playground for foreign drug mafias seeking to export cocaine from its shores, stirring up a brutal war between local gangs.

The murder of serious presidential contender Fernando Villavicencio on the campaign trail just 11 days before the vote underscored the challenges facing the country.

Ecuadorans voted for a successor to conservative leader Guillermo Lasso, who called a snap election to avoid an impeachment trial just two years after coming to power.

Soldiers and police searched voters at the entry to polling stations, while some of the eight...