In the throes of a bloody drug war, a shrinking economy and an acute energy crisis, Ecuadorans are remarkably optimistic about their country's future as they prepare to vote in Sunday election.

The past few years have been brutal for Ecuador, a scenic Andean nation of about 18 million people once a bastion of stability in a troubled region.

But drought-fueled power cuts have plunged swaths of the country into darkness, and drug-fueled violence has seen a presidential candidate assassinated, prisons overrun by gangs and gunmen storming a television station while journalists were live on air.

Yet a December survey by Comunicaliza, a local polling firm, showed more than 50 percent of voters think their country will be better off this time next year.

"Why?" less cheery observers in Quito ask wryly.

Whether hawkish President Daniel Noboa or leftist rival Luisa Gonzalez wins Sunday's election -- or an April runoff -- they will be bombarded by challenges, any one of which alone would be daunting.

"Ecuador is in a very difficult moment, I think in the worst crisis since we returned to democracy," said Leonardo Laso, a local political........

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