Ecuador ex-president Correa to run in elections 'if necessary'

• Ecuador's leftwing former president Rafael Correa said Wednesday he was prepared to run in any early elections.
• Lenin Moreno has accused Correa, along with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, of stirring up the protests as part of an "attempted coup d'etat".
• Correa is wanted in his homeland on suspicion of ordering the kidnapping of a political opponent while he was president.

BRUSSELS: Ecuador's leftwing former president Rafael Correa said Wednesday he was prepared to run in any early elections "if it is necessary" as protests over fuel price hikes gripped his nation.

"If it is necessary to be a candidate, I will be one," Correa told reporters in the capital of Belgium, where he has been living in self-imposed exile with his family since leaving power in 2017 at the end of his third mandate.

Current Ecuadoran President Lenin Moreno has accused Correa, along with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, of stirring up the protests as part of an "attempted coup d'etat".

Correa is wanted in his homeland on suspicion of ordering the kidnapping of a political opponent while he was president.

Because Ecuador has passed a law that would prevent him again becoming head of state, Correa said he was ready to run as vice president.

"They (Lenin's government) are looking to see how they could prevent me running," he added.

The protests in Ecuador have gone on for days, triggered by the end of fuel subsidies to secure International Monetary Fund loans. The unrest has caused crude production in the oil-producing nation to drop by a third.

Moreno has declared a state of emergency that has failed to quell the protests but has so far given no indication he would call early elections.