Bolivia's Morales hopes late ballots will result

President Evo Morales held out hope Monday that late returns from a referendum on changing Bolivia's constitution would turn in his favor despite media projections to the contrary.

Voters on Sunday had their say on a constitutional amendment that would let the leftist president seek another five-year term in office when his current one ends in 2020. He has been in power since 2006.

According to media projections, Morales lost the referendum: unofficial figures cited on private ATB television said that the "No" vote had 52.3 percent to 47.7 percent, while Unitel television gave the "No" vote as 51 percent to 49 percent.

However Vice President Alvaro Garcia said that count was based on returns in urban areas, and votes were still trickling in from rural areas where Morales has strong support.
Ballots cast by Bolivians living abroad -- especially those in Argentina and Brazil -- also needed to be counted.

"We are facing a very clear technical tie, and it is highly probable that these figures will drastically change" as the official count proceeds, Garcia said, signaling that media projections could be wrong.

"So it would be better to hold your enthusiasm and calmly wait for results," Garcia told reporters. "All your celebration may well turn into weeping."

Garcia said that Morales was closely monitoring the outcome.

Opposition figures however were celebrating based on the media projections.
"Bolivia said no!" declared Santa Cruz Governor Ruben Costas.

Samuel Doria Medina -- defeated twice by Morales in presidential elections -- said the vote "buried" plans to have single party rule in Bolivia.

Analyst Jorge Komadina noted that, while Morales may be losing support, his political opposition remains divided.

- A longer Morales era ? -

"They do not have a single candidate," Komadina said. As a group they have "disparate leaderships and political ideologies."

In January Morales became the longest serving president since Bolivia's independence from Spain in 1825 -- a rare accomplishment in a country known for military coups and shaky, short-lived governments.
Now 56, Morales is also Bolivia's first democratically elected president of indigenous heritage.

He has overseen robust economic growth in Bolivia, but opponents accuse him of presiding over corruption and investing in flashy infrastructure projects at the expense of health and education.

Since first taking office, he has been handily re-elected twice, most recently in 2014 to a five-year term that ends in 2020.

Under the current constitution adopted in 2009, sitting presidents can only seek re-election once.

But Bolivia's Supreme Court ruled that Morales's first term was exempt from the rule, allowing him to run again in 2014.
Morales's politics blend the indigenous power movement with environmentalism and the "21st-century socialism" preached by other Latin American leftist leaders.

He has nationalized the oil, gas, mining and telecommunications sectors and rolled out welfare grants for the elderly, children, and expecting mothers.

- Chinese railroad bid -

Bolivia's mineral- and gas-rich economy has more than tripled in size during his decade in office.

Despite plunging prices for its oil and gas, Bolivia's economy grew 4.8 percent last year, one of the strongest rates in Latin America.
Morales's popularity took a recent hit when he faced charges of favoritism towards CAMC, a Chinese engineering company that won the bid for a major railroad expansion project.

One of the top managers at CAMC's La Paz office is Gabriela Zapata, 28 -- Morales's ex-girlfriend.

Morales is single and has recruited his older sister to perform the functions of first lady.

However, he recently admitted to fathering a child with Zapata during a two-year relationship that began in 2005 when she was 18. Morales said the child later died.

The president rejected the allegations as "a hoax by the US embassy" to discredit him, and insists that he has "nothing to hide."

In an attempt to clear his name, Morales has asked state accounting authorities to investigate the process by which the government signed contracts worth $576 million with CAMC.

Congress has also opened a probe into the allegations.

Voting Sunday was mandatory, and some 6.5 million Bolivians were eligible to cast ballots.
Source :AFP