Ecuador's President Rafael Correa reacts after listening favorable reports about a referendum he proposed Saturday.
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 later Saturday.The plebiscite was an important gauge of popularity for Correa, who was first elected in 2006 and easily re-elected in 2009 after a rewrite of the constitution. He is eligible for re-election in two years.
Some of the questions were straightforward, such as whether to ban bullfighting and gambling. Others were quite complex. Each required a separate vote.
Two of the most controversial measures would bar owners of news media from having other commercial interests and create a government media oversight panel.
Critics say both would make it easier for Correa, who is often at loggerheads with the largely opposition news media and business community, to subtly impose censorship.
Another important ballot question called for dissolving Ecuador's judicial oversight council and replacing it with a temporary body given the task of reworking the system. Another would allow authorities to detain people for longer without filing charges.
Results of the exit poll were broadcast immediately after polls closed, and Vice President Lenin Moreno told reporters that the government took the victory with "humility" but added that lawmakers now have a mandate from the public to convert the vote's results into law.
Five of the questions mandate constitutional changes. The other five require congressional action.
Former President Lucio Gutierrez, a fierce Correa opponent, told The Associated Press that with the referendum Correa "seeks to take by force justice and dominate the news media."
Correa, who did not immediately speak, is a close ally of President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and is firmly in South America's leftist bloc.
He enjoys a 65 percent approval rating in a corruption-bedeviled country that in the decade prior to his election saw three presidents, most recently Gutierrez, ousted in popular revolts.
With a forceful, uncompromising style, Correa has alienated many former allies, including leaders of Ecuador's indigenous movement. They are angry with his insistence that the state have the last word on subsoil and water rights.
But Correa's populist programs, such as $35 monthly payments to nearly 2 million poor families, construction of low-income housing and a commitment to universal free education, have boosted his popularity in this small Andean nation of 14.3 million people.
Political analyst Adrian Bonilla of the FLACSO think tank says that with strong leadership, Correa has ably leveraged Ecuador's oil wealth and an effective tax system into popular programs.
He has drawn criticism for alleged autocratic tendencies, however. Former President Osvaldo Hurtado, a conservative in the Christian Democratic party, said before Saturday's vote that Correa has conjured "a perfect dictatorship" by manipulating democratic institutions much as many say Chavez has in Venezuela.
Correa has alienated many foreign investors by renegotiating oil contracts to give Ecuador a higher cut of profits and has forged new business ties with China and Iran.
Last month, he expelled U.S. Ambassador Heather Hodges after the WikiLeaks website disclosed a diplomatic cable from her suggesting Correa was well aware but tolerant of high-level corruption in Ecuador's national police. Correa denied the allegation.
Polls indicated before Saturday's vote that about half of Ecuadoreans were having trouble understanding the ballot questions.
Many voted "no" as a result.
"The truth is I don't understand a lot of the questions," said Nataly Mendez, a 24-year-old pharmaceutical representative voting in Quito's lower-middle-class Don Bosco neighborhood. "That's why I voted no."
Many who voted "yes" said it was out of esteem for the government.
"We Ecuadoreans should be committed and help out if we want things to change," said Maria Lourdes Silva, a 43-year-old cosmetics saleswoman.
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