Ecuador's President Rafael Correa won a second four-year term Sunday according to two exit polls giving him around 61 percent of the vote, published as polls closed in the general election. A survey by the private Opinion Publica polling firm gave the leftist 61 percent, some 40 points ahead of his nearest rival, banker Guillermo Lasso. A second survey, by Cedatos-Gallup, had similar results, with 61.5 percent for Correa to 29.9 percent for Lasso. sp/nss/dc

Ecuadorans cast ballots Sunday in national elections expected to give leftist President Rafael Correa an overwhelming victory and four more years in office to deepen his socialist program. Correa, who cast his ballot at a school in northern Quito, urged Ecuador's 11.7 million registered voters to turn out massively to "elect our future." "In our hands is our destiny," declared Correa, a 49-year-old US educated economist who has been in power since 2007, one of a wave of leftist leaders shaping recent Latin American politics.

Ecuadorans began voting Sunday in national elections in which President Rafael Correa is the overwhelming favorite to return to office and possibly gain greater backing for his brand of socialism. Three private opinion polls show Correa, who first came to power in 2007, with between 48.2 and 61.5 percent support, far ahead of his nearest rival, banker Guillermo Lasso. That would enable the charismatic US-educated economist to win another four year term in the first round of voting, and possibly pick up a majority in Ecuador's Congress.

* Heavy state spending makes incumbent popular among poor * Fractured opposition fielding seven candidates * Correa win would boost Latin American leftist bloc By Brian Ellsworth QUITO, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Ecuadoreans vote for president on Sunday in a ballot expected to hand incumbent Rafael Correa a new term to advance his socialist agenda of heavy government spending and expansion of state power that critics slam as creeping authoritarianism.