Bolivians Approve Morales` Leftist Constitution

The new constitution will give the Indian majority more seats in Congress and greater clout in the justice system.

Bolivian voters approved a new constitution on Sunday to give the poor indigenous majority more power, let socialist President Evo Morales run for re-election and hand him even tighter control over the economy.

Aymara, Quechua, Guarani and other indigenous groups who suffered centuries of discrimination in South America's poorest country largely backed the new constitution and exit polls showed it was approved with around 60 percent support.

The new constitution will give the Indian majority more seats in Congress and greater clout in the justice system. It also officially recognizes their pre-Columbian spiritual traditions and promotes their languages.

"A new country is being founded for all Bolivians," an ebullient Morales, 49, told a cheering crowd in front of the presidential palace in La Paz on Sunday night.

Morales, an Aymara Indian who herded llamas as a boy and went on to lead the country's coca-leaf farmers, is Bolivia's first indigenous president and is popular among the poor.

"I voted yes for change. Now there will be more work and more money," said German Guzman, a 56-year-old disabled man who voted in the city of Cochabamba.

The rightist opposition accuses Morales of pushing the new constitution to grab more power as he will now be able to run for a second consecutive term in office in an election later this year.

Bolivia was shaken by violent anti-Morales protests last September as opponents feared the president would break up large landholdings in wealthy eastern provinces where a European-descended elite dominates.

After protesters stormed government buildings and blocked highways, Morales watered down the land reform element of the draft constitution and agreed to a two-term limit on the presidency.

SOME PROVINCES SAY "NO"

Despite those concessions, many mixed-race people in the fertile eastern lowlands rejected the charter on Sunday and the "no" vote prevailed in four of Bolivia's nine provinces , according to the exit polls.

Morales belongs to a trio of socialist leaders in South America who have reformed constitutions to extend their rule, tackle social inequalities and exert greater control over natural resources.

President Hugo Chavez in Venezuela won approval for a new constitution in 1999 and Ecuador's President Rafael Correa did the same last year.

In Bolivia, the official results will take weeks to count, but if they confirm the 60 percent win for the constitution, that is a narrower win margin than the 67 percent victory Morales took in a recall election last year.

That may embolden the opposition to fight implementation of some parts of the new constitution.

The latest in a long series of charters in Bolivia's turbulent history, the new constitution guarantees freedom of religion, angering critics who accuse Morales of being anti-Catholic for embracing indigenous faiths.

The 50-page document also grants Indian communities the right to use ancient traditions in sentencing criminals and it will subject judges, including those on the Supreme Court, to popular votes instead of approval by Congress.

It also says the state should have control over natural resources -- from rich natural gas deposits to vast tracts of agricultural land.

Since taking office three years ago, Morales has nationalized Bolivia's vast natural gas reserves, and taken over mining and telecommunications firms.

He has also tangled repeatedly with the United States.

In December, Washington canceled duty-free trade preferences that Bolivia had enjoyed since 1991, saying Morales was dragging his feet in the war against the cocaine trade.