Bolivia's richest region votes "yes" on autonomy
"I hope the governors can hear me and that together we can guarantee the autonomy of the regions," he said in a televised speech after polls closed.
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Despite Morales' rejection of the validity of the ballot, the vote could increase pressure him to negotiate with his opponents in Santa Cruz and three other pro-autonomy regions in Bolivia's eastern lowlands.
The Amazon provinces of Beni and Pando and natural gas-rich Tarija are preparing to hold similar referendums in the coming months.
Growing demands for regional autonomy have exposed a bitter divide between Bolivia's wealthier lowlands and the poor Andean highlands, where tens of thousands of people marched in several cities on Sunday to show support for Morales - Bolivia's first Indian president.
Bolivia is South America's poorest country, but its eastern areas are home to the region's second-largest natural gas reserves after Venezuela and it is a key supplier of the fuel to Brazil and Argentina.
As well as energy riches, Santa Cruz has fertile farmland and its population has grown fast over the past 40 years, with Bolivians from the highlands seeking a better life due to its growing economy.
Bolivia's highlands are more heavily indigenous, while areas like Santa Cruz have a larger European-descended population.
The vast region covers roughly a third of Bolivia's territory and is home to a quarter of the country's roughly 9 million people.
Morales has described the Santa Cruz referendum as a bid to destabilize his government, engineered by conservative rivals who oppose his efforts to break up large land holdings and reform the constitution to empower the poor, indigenous majority.
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