Leftist Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa has scored a major political victory with voters approving a raft of his controversial reform proposals in a referendum, early returns and private exit polls showed Sunday. The proposals included measures bolstering Correa's power to regulate the country's judiciary and news media, among them aims to amend the constitution to restrict investment in local media.
The referendum also sought to authorise a council to regulate violent, sexually explicit and potentially discriminatory content. If the exit poll results are officially confirmed, however, the referendum of 10 key proposal will mark a sixth major political victory for Correa in his four-year rule.
The National Election Council announced, after a count of the votes by early Sunday, that nine of the 10 measures had received approval ranging from 44.4 to 49.9 percent, versus "no" votes and blank ballots combined ranging between 40 and 44 percent.