Bolivia's Morales on course for re-election in first round: poll
Bolivia's Morales on course for re-election in first round: poll
LA PAZ Wed Oct 1, 2014 10:54am EDT
(Reuters) - President Evo Morales is cruising to an outright first-round victory in Bolivia's Oct. 12 presidential election, with his nearest rival trailing by 46 percentage points, a new opinion poll showed on Wednesday.
Morales is projected to win 59 percent of the vote in the first round, unchanged from polls in July and August, against 13 percent for Samuel Doria Medina, the Ipsos poll showed. Medina, a cement tycoon, was polling 17 percent in August.
Morales, a former coca farmer who became Bolivia's first indigenous leader in 2006, promises to expand social reforms in the Andean nation, historically one of Latin America's most unstable but which has enjoyed relative prosperity and calm under his presidency.
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Hailed by supporters as a champion of the poor, Morales has nationalised key industries including hydrocarbons and utilities. Gross domestic product doubled between 2005 and 2011.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/01/us-bolivia-election-idUSKCN0HQ4AY20141001?rpc=401
