President Evo Morales became Bolivia’s longest serving head of state with a resounding victory on 12 October. Morales secured re-election with a margin of victory of more than 30 percentage points over his closest rival, Samuel Doria Medina of Unidad Demócrata (UD). His ruling left-wing Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) strengthened its presence across Bolivia, winning eight of the nine departments, up from six in 2009. With the electoral authorities (TSE) due to announce the final results on 22 October - a delay which, along with other procedural problems, has been widely criticised (see sidebar) - the one uncertainty is whether Morales will achieve his goal of a two-thirds majority in the 166-member bicameral legislature.End of preview - This article contains approximately 1111 words.
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