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Leftist claims victory in Bolivian presidential race

Supporters of presidential candidate Evo Morales of the Movement Towards Socialism celebrate on Sunday in La Paz after general elections. According to independent opinion polls, Morales was leading with more than 50 percent. PHOTO: AFP

Leftist, anti-US politician Evo Morales claimed a stunning victory in Bolivia's presidential election on Sunday as exit polls showed him with 51 percent of the vote, on track to become the country's first indigenous head of state.

"We have won," he told thousands of cheering supporters, adding that two Latin American leaders already had congratulated him.

His right-wing rival, ex-president Jorge Quiroga conceded defeat.

Morales, 46, highlighted that he will become the first indigenous president of South America's poorest nation, where Aymaras and Quechua people make up the majority of the 9.3 million population.

"The new history of Bolivia has started," he said in his Cochabamba stronghold amid shouts of "Evo president!"

Two separate exit polls showed Morales getting 51 percent of the vote, and a 20-point lead over Quiroga. Opinion polls before the election had given him about 35 percent of the vote.

"We already have 50 percent plus one," said Morales in a reference to the majority needed to win outright in the first round.

Even if official results -- which may only be announced today -- show he failed to reach that mark, the leftist leader of the coca farmers movement still looks certain to become president.

If the election goes to a second round, the newly elected Congress will pick between the two top vote-getters in January.

Exit polls show Morales' Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) party would control enough congressional seats to defeat his rival.

Morales has promised a radical shakeup of the country.

The leftist lawmaker has headed popular protests that played a key role in the collapse of two governments since 2002. His campaign was marked by anti-US slogans.

On Sunday, he reiterated his pledge to increase state control over Bolivia's natural gas resources and to protect coca plantations.

Bolivia is the world's third largest coca producer of coca leaf, the base ingredient of cocaine but also a medicinal plant popular with indigenous people.

Morales insists he opposes cocaine trafficking but defends the right to grow the coca leaf. He said on Sunday that under his administration, "there will be zero cocaine, zero drug trafficking but not zero coca."

Critics say that if Morales takes office, Washington might reconsider preferential trade agreements and aid to Bolivia.

Speaking after he cast his ballot in Villa Tunari, in the heart of Bolivia's coca-growing region, Morales said his government would cooperate closely with other "anti-imperialists," and reiterated his admiration for Cuba's communist President Fidel Castro.

In Venezuela, President Hugo Chavez, also a virulently anti-US leader, hailed the election, saying in a television address that Bolivia "is writing a new page in its history."
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