Opposition questions results of Ecuador reform referendum

The opposition in Ecuador on Monday demanded an exhaustive recount of the votes of this past weekend's referendum after determining that early ballot counts differed greatly from the results of the exit polls released after voting stations had closed.

President Rafael Correa claimed victory on Saturday following the referendum in which Ecuadorians were asked for their approval on 10 issues, including the government's proposals to reform the judiciary and place strict new controls on the media.

Although they acknowledged that Correa may have won support for his controversial reforms, opposition lawmakers believe that it was no more than a narrow victory and it would send a clear message to the president that he cannot move as fast as he wants in changing the Constitution. "The results show that the majority of voters are not with the government," said Alberto Acosta, who was a founding member of Correa's party but who is now in the opposition.

Latest results from the National Election Council (CNE) on Tuesday showed that the "no" vote on judiciary reforms and media restrictions was leading the "yes" vote by several points, the Quito daily Hoy reported.

Correa accused the opposition of trying to manipulate the results of Saturday's ballots to "fabricate" a slender margin of victory. Specifically, he said that some provinces are refusing to report their vote tally to help show "tight results."

"No fraud"

Many political analysts said before the race that close results could demonstrate that Correa's once-cemented popularity is now fading.

Election observers from the Organization of American States (OAS) said Monday that they did not detect any evidence of voter fraud but pointed to major problems in training officials who ran the polling stations.

Correa has said that he wants to reform the judiciary because many of its members are corrupt. Among the other questions Ecuadorians were asked was whether games of chance and cockfights should be banned. In Spain, 42 percent of the 26,280 Ecuadorians who voted in Saturday's referendum said "no" to both questions while 40 percent said "yes," according to Ecuador's Ambassador to Spain, Galo Chiriboga Zambrano.