Bolivia's Morales easily wins recall vote-exit polls

LA PAZ (Reuters) - Bolivian President Evo Morales easily won a recall vote on Sunday, unofficial results and exit polls showed, but he will likely remain deadlocked with opponents of his leftist reforms.

A quick count of votes at a sample of stations by respected pollster Ipsos Apoyo showed Morales had secured 60.7 percent support with 80 percent of ballots counted, private television channel ATB reported.

Morales needed 46.3 percent to keep his job.

An exit poll by private TV channel Unitel said Morales won 60.12 percent of the vote. Both results were sharply higher than the 53.7 percent margin by which Morales was elected in December 2005.

Morales and eight of Bolivia's nine regional governors faced the recall. Three governors, including two of Morales' opponents, lost their jobs, while four pro-autonomy governors were ratified, the unofficial results showed.

"The initial reading is that the political crisis and tension in the country is going to deepen greatly," said Franklin Pareja, professor of political science at the state-run San Andres University in La Paz.

"While the president has garnered a (strong) ... vote, the governors who are against the president have won votes that legitimize their own position and strengthen them," he said, adding that implementing reforms would remain a battle for Morales.

Morales, a former coca farmer who is Bolivia's first Indian leader, hopes a victory will allow him to forge ahead with changes like nationalizations, land redistribution and a constitution that aims to give more power to the poor.

The bitter power struggle between Morales and opposition governors has exposed deep divisions between the wealthier east of the country and the more indigenous west, and has forced Morales to put many reforms on hold.

But with Bolivia roiled by protests, and most of the governors expected to survive, few people expect the recall vote to restore calm in South America's poorest country.

The opposition governors are angry that Morales has cut their share of windfall natural gas revenues and accuse him of governing only for his supporters.

"He's manipulating uneducated people and isn't caring for the middle classes," said 40-year-old designer Roxana Bleichner after the unofficial results were announced.

Final official results are due in next few days.

(With additional reporting by Rodrigo Martinez in Chapare and Carlos A. Quiroga in La Paz. Editing by Chris Wilson)