Morales re-elected Bolivia's president

La Paz: President Evo Morales easily won re-election, according to unofficial results, getting an overwhelming mandate for further revolutionary change on behalf of Bolivia's long-suppressed indigenous majority.

Morales' allies also won a convincing majority in both houses of Congress in Sunday's election.

Opponents say they fear the coca-growers' union leader will use his consolidated power not just to continue reversing racially based inequalities but also to trample human rights and deepen state influence over the economy.

Unofficial counts of 98 per cent of the vote by two polling firms said Bolivia's first indigenous president won with 63 per cent of the ballots — 36 points ahead of his closest challenger in a field of nine candidates.

Jubilant supporters waving Bolivian flags jumped up and down in La Paz's central Murillo square after polls closed, chanting "Evo! Evo!"

Manfred Reyes, a centre-right former state governor and military officer, conceded soon after. He won 27 per cent of the vote, according to the unofficial tallies.

Victorious

In a booming victory speech punctuated by fireworks, Morales called on all sectors of society — including the opposition — to unite behind him.

"We have the enormous responsibility to deepen and accelerate this process of change," he said, insisting final results will give him two-thirds of both chambers of Congress. The lopsided results signalled an opposition in disarray.

"Evo Morales has a mandate unlike any other president in the hemisphere, including Barack Obama," analyst Jim Shultz of the nonprofit Democracy Center in Cochabamba said.

"This is the fifth national election in four years and his margin of victory has only increased each and every time."

Profile: Evo Morales

An Aymara Indian who herded llamas as a boy, Morales was elected president in December 2005. He pushed through a constitutional reform this year that allowed him to run again, and his second term will be for five years.

He rose into politics as a leader of the country's rebellious coca farmers and was briefly jailed when he led their frequent protests against eradication campaigns. He defends growing of coca for traditional chewing and teas.

An avid soccer player, Morales has fought an international ban on high-altitude games in cities such as La Paz at 113,600 metres above sea level to prove it can be done.

Morales, 50, is unmarried and never went to university. He has two adolescent children. He never takes holidays and works very long days. He jokes that he doesn't tire out because he never got married.

Morales is a close ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and an outspoken critic of US foreign policy. He threw out American anti-narcotics agents last year, accusing them of spying.