In Uruguay, voters have rejected a referendum held on Sunday proposing to revoke a law which protects people suspected of human rights violations during the country's military dictatorship.

Exit polls have showed that only about 48 percent of voters approved the referendum initiative that would have suspended the amnesty law sheltering perpetrators of political crimes committed when the country was ruled by generals between 1973 and 1985. At least 50 percent of the vote was needed for the measure to be passed.

Only ten former police and military officials have been convicted in Uruguay for executions and other human rights abuses during the dictatorship, when 231 people went missing.