Ecuador's Correa declares referendum victory

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Ecuador's Correa declares referendum victory
(AP) – 11 hours ago

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — President Rafael Correa declared victory after an exit poll indicated voters approved all 10 ballot questions in a referendum Saturday, an outcome critics say will tighten his grip on power, inhibit press freedom and lessen the judiciary's independence.

The exit poll by SP Investigacion y Estudios, which regularly does work for the government, said voters approved all the questions by greater than 60 percent. First official results were expected Saturday night. Three hours after polls closed less than 1 percent of the vote had been counted.

The chief of an Organization of American States observer team, Enrique Correa of Chile, said the voting appeared to go smoothly and there was no evidence of fraud.

The plebiscite was an important gauge of a leftist U.S.-trained economist who has brought remarkable stability to a small, traditionally volatile and corrupt South American nation.

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