Bolivia approves constitutional draft amid clashes

By David Mercado

SUCRE, Bolivia (Reuters) - The assembly charged with rewriting Bolivia's constitution produced a new constitutional draft on Saturday amid violent street protests in which at least one person was killed.

The draft for the new constitution, a key campaign promise of leftist President Evo Morales, will need to be discussed in detail and then ratified by a majority of Bolivia's population.

"All the text of the state's constitution has been (approved) unanimously," assembly President Silvia Lazarte told reporters.

The draft was approved mainly with votes from Morales' party as most opposition representatives boycotted the debates to protest moving the assembly to an army compound.

Outside the compound, protesters clashed with police in demonstrations demanding assembly delegates name Sucre Bolivia's "full capital," and move the seat of government and Congress to Sucre from La Paz, a bastion of support for Morales.

Citing doctors from Sucre's Santa Barbara hospital, local radio Erbol reported a 29-year-old man had been killed and many more injured in the protests.

"We hope that calm will return to Sucre," Deputy Presidential Minister Sacha Llorenti told the radio station.

Protests over the capital began in August, forcing the assembly, which sits in Sucre, to suspend debates for three months, prompting the assembly's governing body to move sessions to an army facility on Friday.