MOSCOW, December 7 (RIA Novosti) - Bolivian President Evo Morales is heading toward a landslide re-election for a second term as voters showed on Sunday a strong support of his populist reforms in the poverty-stricken Latin American country, local media reported.
Exit polls indicate that Morales won over 62% of the vote and has an overwhelming lead over his closest rival Manfred Reyes Villa, a candidate from the Progress Plan party (PPB-APB), who was supported by 23% of the electorate.
The presidential and parliamentary elections were held on Sunday in line with Bolivia's new constitution, which came into effect on February 7. Some 5 million of voters cast ballots in a record turnover to elect a president, a vice president, 36 senators and 130 members of the lower house.
The voting stations across the country were closed at 16:00 local time [20:00 GMT], and the elections officials promised to announce the preliminary official results as early as on Monday morning.
Some 300 international observers representing the European Union, the Organization of American States and the U.S. Carter Center monitored the elections. They called the voting peaceful and without serious violations of election procedures that could affect the results of the vote.
Morales has led Bolivia since 2006, and is the country's first fully indigenous national leader. Since he came to power, industries including oil and gas and transportation have been nationalized to fund social programs.
