Bolivia's Morales may revise charter to calm crisis

LA PAZ, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Leftist President Evo Morales and the head of Bolivia's constitutional assembly said they may revise the Andean country's proposed new constitution to calm a political crisis.

In a bitter disagreement, four of the country's nine provinces declared themselves autonomous late last year to protest a draft version of the new charter that was passed by Morales' allies in a constitutional assembly.

"We hope there is a willingness to combine the new constitution ... with the provinces' autonomy statutes to allow for a nationwide agreement," Morales said late on Thursday at a meeting with constitutional delegates at the presidential residence.

Provincial governors want to make sure they will be granted more autonomy under the new constitution and, striking a conciliatory tone, the head of the constitutional assembly said revisions were possible.

"If some sectors of the population want to make changes, they should pass them along to the assembly," Silvia Lazarte, leader of the assembly and a member of Morales' Socialist party MAS, was quoted by state news agency ABI as saying.

This week, Morales and opposition governors said they would try to make amends and forge a pact of national unity to avert more political turmoil.

Morales, an Aymara Indian whose support is strongest in western Bolivia's Andean region, wants to give indigenous groups more political power, while opposition governors from the natural gas-rich east want to make sure Morales does not cut their share of growing revenues from energy exports.

Critics say Morales' allies in the constitutional assembly took advantage of a boycott by opposition delegates to push through the government's proposed new constitution.

The draft of the charter is to go to a referendum vote this year. Separate referendums on whether Morales and the provincial governors should stay in office are also expected. (Editing by Hilary Burke)