The United States said on Monday that it is "ready to work" with a new Ecuadoran government led by Ecuador's leftist presidential candidate Rafael Correa.

"In terms of the next Ecuadoran government, we're ready to work with them," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

However, the relations between the United States and Ecuador would ultimately depend on whether Correa's policies are "consonant" with US goals for the region, McCormack said.

Pending certification of the election results, McCormack declined to comment directly on Correa's victory, though he congratulated the Ecuadoran people for "a pretty transparent, free and fair electoral process."

Correa, 43, leads right wing rival Noboa by 37 percentage points with around 54 percent of the vote counted, Ecuadoran Supreme Electoral Tribunal announced on Monday.

He told reporters on Saturday that he hoped the Ecuador-US ties "will be the best possible."

However, the future Ecuadoran leader is also a friend of Venezuela's anti-US president, Hugo Chavez. He said on Sunday that he would seek stronger ties with Venezuela. He also reiterated his opposition to a free trade deal with the United States and insisted he would not renew the lease for a US military air base on Ecuador's Pacific Coast.

Correa said that Ecuador had credible information that the US Central Intelligence Agency had made some interference with the first round of Ecuador's presidential election.

(Xinhua News Agency November 28, 2006)