Equatorial Guineans vote in constitutional referendum

MALABO, Sunday

Equatorial Guineans voted Sunday in a referendum on a new constitution that would limit presidential terms to two and strengthen the small oil state's democracy.

The opposition has branded the vote a "masquerade" because the text does not make clear whether President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, Africa's longest-serving leader, will have to step down when his term ends in 2016.

Obiang, who currently chairs the African Union, is on an offensive to win himself a clean bill of health on the international scene and reverse his country's reputation as one of Africa's most corrupt and autocratic.

Obiang, 69, has been re-elected four times since seizing power in 1979.

The regime says the new constitution would also create a position of vice president, impose more checks and balances on the executive, improve the judicial system and ensure better protection of the population's rights.

The opposition charges that Obiang's 41-year-old playboy son Teodoro Obiang Mangue, reviled for his lavish lifestyle, is being groomed for the new vice presidency and eventually to succeed his father.

The former Spanish colony, which has a population of around 700,000, struck oil off its Atlantic coast in the early 1990s and has become sub-Saharan Africa's third biggest producer.

Polls opened at 8:00 am and were to close at 6:00 pm (1700 GMT).