Early results suggest voters in Bolivia rejected referendum on presidential terms

(Image credit: STR/AFP/Getty Images)

last updated 22 February 2016

Exit polls and early results are pointing toward defeat for Bolivian President Evo Morales' referendum on whether he can try for a fourth term in office.

The 56-year-old former coca farmer and the country's first indigenous president took office in 2006, and is now serving his third term. He wants the constitution changed so he can run again in 2019, potentially allowing him to remain president until 2025, Reuters reports. An Ipsos exit poll put the "no" side at 52.3 percent and "yes" at 47.7 percent, and a Mori poll had the "no" side at 51 percent and the "yes" side at 49 percent.

The electoral commission says turnout was high at almost 88 percent, and with 3 percent of returns in, the "no" side is leading with 66 percent.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.