Ecuador's President Rafael Correa on Sunday thanked the nation's voters for their "overwhelming" support after the published exit polls showed him well beyond the 50 percent needed for reelection in one round.

"We have made history," Correa said, speaking from Guayaquil. "Today we won in one round... but the big winner is the Ecuadorian people."

Unofficial results said that he had won between 54 and 55 percent of the vote and that his closest challenger, Lucio Gutierrez of the Patriotic Party, was around 20 points behind.

Ecuador's more than 10 million registered voters are legally obliged to vote. Sunday's general election will also choose more than 1,600 officials including deputies and municipal officers alongside Correa.

(Xinhua News Agency April 27, 2009)