Bolivia president projected to lose key referendum

Early returns have indicated Bolivian President Evo Morales faced defeat in a referendum on seeking a fourth term in power, but he sat tight pending results from his rural strongholds.On Monday, Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous head of state, promised to respect the official results of Sunday's vote on whether he can run for re-election to extend his time in office to 19 years.
But he insisted on waiting for full results to trickle in from rural areas where he has strong support, and from abroad.


Exit polls published by private media late Sunday indicated Morales narrowly lost the vote.
An Ipsos poll for ATB television said the "No" vote had 52.3 percent to 47.7 percent for "Yes." A survey by Mori for Unitel television gave the "No" vote 51 percent to 49 percent for "Yes."
Partial official results with more than a third of votes counted on Monday showed about 62 percent for No and 38 percent for Yes.
The Supreme Electoral Tribunal said it expected to have an official result with 90 percent of votes counted within two days.

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