Exit polls: voters back new Ecuador constitution

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) - Exit polls are showing that Ecuadoreans have approved a new constitution with at least 66 percent of the vote. It is a major victory for leftist President Rafael Correa.
The new constitution significantly broadens Correa's powers and allows him to run for two more consecutive terms.
Critics say it gives Correa too much control over the economy as well as the legislative and judicial branches as he forges his own brand of socialism with such benefits as social security for stay-at-home mothers.
Correa is promising «rapid, profound change» and the end of a corrupt, discredited political class in this chronically unstable Andean nation.
New presidential, national and local elections are expected early next year.