Ecuador leader claims poll win

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa has claimed victory in elections for a new constituent assembly.

Official results from the vote are yet to come, but exit polls show Mr Correa's party heading for a strong majority in the new assembly.

The president hopes the 130-member body will dissolve the national Congress, which he says is corrupt and inept, and increase the power of poor people.

But critics say the reforms will focus more power in the president's hands.

Mr Correa's political opponents accuse him of wanting to turn the South American country into a socialist state.

Ecuador has thrown out three previous presidents in the last 10 years, and successive governments have been roundly criticised.

'Change in the times'

The president's party hopes to win more than two-thirds of the vote necessary to implement the changes he has promised.

Put aside hate and rancour and join in the construction of a new country
President Rafael Correa



In a speech broadcast at the start of voting, Mr Correa called for a strong mandate.

"Put aside hate and rancour and join in the construction of a new country," he said.

"This is the reaffirmation of a change in the times, the light at the end of the tunnel."

But the BBC's South America correspondent Daniel Schweimler says more than 3,200 candidates and a complex voting system has left many voters undecided or simply confused.

Among the candidates are several former beauty queens, a long-haired monk who walks the streets urging voters to take from the rich and a masked crime fighter known as The Punisher who says his face is covered because he is allergic to corruption.

There are evangelical Christians and Marxists, offering an array of measures, including a return of the death penalty and nationalising the country's oil industry.