Ecuador voters appear to approve constitution

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Voters in Ecuador overwhelmingly approved a new constitution Sunday that would concentrate power in the hands of socialist President Rafael Correa, advance his reformist agenda and enable him to remain in office until 2017, exit polls indicated.

The constitution was drafted last summer by a special congress convened by Correa, who was elected in a 2006 landslide by voters exasperated by this country’s chronic corruption, political instability and ineffectual lawmakers.

According to the exit count conducted by government-commissioned pollster Santiago Perez, 66% approved the constitution and 25% voted against it. The independent Cedatos-Gallup poll said the yes vote was 70%. Voters were required by law to vote on the constitution as a package, not by individual provisions.

Very early returns showed 65% support with 5% of the vote counted.

Read the rest of the dispatch on Ecuador’s new constitution here, and for more on Ecuador in general, click here.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City