Bolivia's Morales pushes reforms after vote win

By Simon Gardner

LA PAZ (Reuters) - Confirmed in office in a landslide recall election vote, Bolivian President Evo Morales now plans to push through major constitutional reforms early next year that will further antagonize his rightist opponents.

The reforms would give more clout to Bolivia's poor indigenous majority, enable Morales to run for reelection and undermine the campaigns in opposition-led provinces for greater autonomy from central government.

But they have driven a deep wedge between Morales and the conservative governors of wealthier eastern provinces.

"We should start 2009 ... by calling a referendum on whether to approve the state's new constitution policy," Presidential Minister Juan Ramon Quintana said on Monday.

Morales won a clear mandate in Sunday's election with more than 60 percent support but the four leading governors who oppose him and want autonomy for their provinces also comfortably survived their recall votes, and Bolivian politics remain deadlocked.

Some fear more violent protests like those that rocked the country last week.

The governors trying to block Morales' socialist reforms are furious he has cut their share of windfall natural gas revenues and accuse him of governing only for his supporters.

Quintana said voters should have the final word.