By Carlos Quiroga and Terry Wade
LA PAZ (Reuters) - Bolivians approved a new constitution that would allow leftist President Evo Morales to run for re-election, according to two exit polls, although a separate quick count showed a close vote.
Two television stations said their exit polls showed the constitution was approved with around 60 percent of the vote on Sunday. The pollster who conducted the quick count for ATB television said it showed a much closer vote but that Morales was still likely to win.
Morales is Bolivia's first indigenous Indian president and has said the new constitution will improve the lives of the impoverished indigenous majority and allow the state to tighten its control over the economy.
Morales has taken cues from leftists Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Rafael Correa of Ecuador, who have changed their countries' constitutions to extend their rule, tackle inequalities or exert greater control over natural resources.
Support was highest in the western highlands where Indians are a majority, while many mixed-race people in the fertile eastern lowlands rejected the charter. Four of nine provinces rejected the charter, according to the exit polls.
Morales, an Aymara Indian who herded llamas as a boy, has boosted government revenues by nationalizing energy, mining and telephone companies since taking office three years ago.
As the country's first indigenous president, he has hailed the constitution as the cornerstone of his agenda to tilt the balance of power in favour of Bolivian Indians after centuries of discrimination and expand the state's role in the natural gas sector.
(Additional reporting by Diego Ore in Chapare; Editing by Fiona Ortiz and Kieran Murray)
