Bolivia's Morales calls for vote on his presidency

LA PAZ (Reuters) - Bolivian President Evo Morales called on Wednesday for a nationwide referendum to decide whether he should stay in the job as a way to resolve a deepening political crisis in the country.

The leftist leader's plans to overhaul Bolivia's constitution have reignited long-running conflicts between more indigenous Andean regions, where Morales has his support base, and wealthier lowland areas.

In an apparent bid to draw a line under the conflict, Morales proposed a referendum to decide whether he and nine regional governors should remain in their posts. Six of the country's nine regions are controlled by his opponents.

"If the people say 'Evo's going', I've got no problem. I'm democratic," the former coca farmer said in a televised speech. "The people will say who's going and who's staying to guarantee this process of change."

He said he would send a bill to Congress on Thursday to call the referendum vote.

Morales -- Bolivia's first indigenous president -- is a close ideological ally of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, whose own constitutional reform project was defeated narrowly in a referendum vote at the weekend.

Bolivia's sweeping constitutional changes, a key Morales project, are at the center of a power struggle between the leftist leader and his conservative rivals concentrated in lowland areas that are also home to large natural gas fields.

His foes shut down large parts of the poor country last week in a one-day strike after his allies pushed through a draft of the constitution in an elected constitutional assembly boycotted by the opposition.

That vote triggered violent protests in the southern city of Sucre, the seat of the assembly, that killed at least three people.

The constitutional assembly has until Dec 14. to approve the new charter in full before it goes to a referendum.

(Reporting by Carlos Quiroga; Writing by Helen Popper, editing by Doina Chiacu)