Ecuador referendum draws support, despite voter unfamiliarity with questions

Noboa, who took office in November, has asked voters to approve 11 questions mostly related to security - including allowing the military to patrol with police, the extradition of accused criminals and increases in jail time for crimes like terrorism and murder, among others. Nearly 66% of the 4,560 people surveyed by Click Research between March 29 and April 1 said they would vote "yes", while 34% would opt for "no", the firm said late on Wednesday.

Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa is likely to get the backing of a majority of citizens in an April 21 security referendum, two polls showed, despite voters' lack of familiarity with the individual questions.

The questions - five of which would modify the constitution if approved - are a response to spiking violence on Ecuador's streets and in its prisons that the government blames on drug gangs. Noboa, who took office in November, has asked voters to approve 11 questions mostly related to security - including allowing the military to patrol with police, the extradition of accused criminals and increases in jail time for crimes like terrorism and murder, among others.

Nearly 66% of the 4,560 people surveyed by Click Research between March 29 and April 1 said they would vote "yes", while 34% would opt for "no", the firm said late on Wednesday. The backing for Noboa comes despite 85.5% of those polled saying they are wholly or partially unfamiliar with the content of the questions, the survey showed.

"The 'yes' vote has a direct relationship with the level of approval and the grade people give the president," Click's director Francis Romero said. Noboa, 36, who designated 22 gangs as terrorist groups and used a state of emergency to deploy the army, has said a "yes" vote is key to his fight against organized crime.

Voters' lack of knowledge could influence the final result of the referendum, Polibio Cordova, head of polling firm Cedatos, told Reuters, and the government should detail more about the questions if it wants a favorable result. "There are some questions about security, about control of weapons, that when they are well explained, more than 80% say that, understanding them, they would vote 'yes'," Cordova said. "But current backing could fall if it isn't ratified with explanation."

Cedatos' survey of 2,500 people this month showed 50.7% backing for the referendum, but did not detail support for each question. Nearly 69% of Ecuadoreans approve of Noboa's governance, according to Cedatos.

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