Reuters
LA PAZ - Bolivian President Evo Morales easily won a recall vote on Sunday and vowed to push on with socialist reforms that his rightist opponents in South America's poorest country are trying to block.
The recall pitted Morales against governors who have pushed for autonomy for their resource-rich provinces and are furious that he has cut their share of windfall natural gas revenues.
Morales, a former coca leaf farmer who is Bolivia's first Indian leader, hopes his victory will allow him to forge ahead with changes like nationalizations, land redistribution and a constitution that aims to give more power to the poor.
"What the Bolivian people have expressed with their votes today is the consolidation of change," a beaming Morales told thousands of cheering supporters who gathered outside his presidential palace in La Paz.
"We're here to move forward with the recovery of our natural resources, the consolidation of nationalization, and the state takeover of companies."
Unofficial exit polls said Morales secured more than 60 percent of the vote -- far higher than the 53.7 percent he won when elected in December 2005.
Supporters of Morales and of opposition governors alike took to the streets waving banners, chanting, dancing and setting off fire crackers after a peaceful vote that contrasted with violent protests earlier in the week.
"I'm glad he has won, because Mr Morales is one of us, he's working class like me. I expect things to improve now, because someone from the same background as me cannot let me down," said 32-year-old computer technician Hector Gutierrez.
The bitter power struggle between Morales and opposition governors has exposed deep divisions between the wealthier east of the country and the more indigenous west, and has forced Morales to put many reforms on hold.
Morales approved the recall vote in an apparent bid to undermine their autonomy drives.
But with Bolivia roiled by protests, and a bloc of four anti-Morales governors surviving the recall vote according to provisional results, the standoff is likely to continue unless a compromise can be negotiated.
Political stalemate
"The initial reading is that the political crisis and tension in the country is going to deepen greatly," said Franklin Pareja, professor of political science at the state-run San Andres University in La Paz.
The opposition governors are angry that Morales has cut their share of windfall natural gas revenues and accuse him of governing only for his supporters. They also view him as a lackey of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the vocal leader of a group of Latin America's leftist presidents.
At campaign rallies leading up to the vote, Morales distributed money from Chavez for schools, roads and an office for a mining union.
Bolivians toppled their president in 2003 with a wave of street protests, demanding the energy industry be taken over by the state and calling for a new constitution.
Morales nationalized the oil and gas industry and has worked to reform the constitution. He also champions cultivation of coca, the raw ingredient of cocaine, though for traditional uses.
Bolivia is the No. 3 world producer of coca, which has many legal uses in Bolivia. It is used in teas and religious ceremonies and is chewed to combat altitude sickness and suppress hunger.
An exit poll by private TV channel Unitel said Morales won 60.12 percent of the vote, while a count by pollster Ipsos Apoyo for channel ATB gave Morales 63.1 percent.
Three governors, including two of Morales' opponents, lost their jobs. Manfred Reyes Villa, the anti-Morales governor of Cochabamaba in Bolivia's coca-growing heartland, remained defiant despite losing the recall vote.
"My lawyers have told me this is unconstitutional," Reyes Villa said. "Legally, I continue to be the governor of Cochabamba."
Final official results are due in next few days.