Exit polls and unofficial returns suggest that Bolivian President Evo Morales has won a third term, beating a slate of four opponents with about 60 percent of the vote. Morales, a populist leftist and Bolivia's first indigenous president, declared victory from the balcony of the presidential palace, calling his landslide victory "a triumph for anti-imperialists and anti-colonialists," and dedicating it to Fidel Castro.
Unlike Cuba, Bolivia's economy is booming, thanks primarily to natural gas exports. The Morales administration is also widely regarded as using its gas money prudently and pragmatically, building up foreign reserves and increasing spending on infrastructure and welfare programs. Poverty has decreased from a third of the population to a fifth since Morales took office in 2006, according to government figures. His new term lasts until 2020.
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