ECUADOR will go to the polls again for a second round after authorities announced on Tuesday that the ruling left-wing party’s candidate narrowly missed winning the presidency outright.

The National Electoral Council (CNE) said Pais Alliance candidate Lenin Moreno had fallen a hair’s breadth short of the 40 per cent threshold needed to win Sunday’s presidential election — with more than a 10-point lead over his nearest rival.

CNE president Juan Pablo Pozo told reporters that with 95 per cent of the ballots counted it was “mathematically impossible” for the result to change and a run-off between Mr Moreno and right-wing opposition candidate Guillermo Lasso was unavoidable.