UPDATE 8-Bolivians approve Morales' leftist constitution

By Terry Wade

LA PAZ, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Bolivian voters approved a new constitution on Sunday to give the poor indigenous majority more power, let socialist President Evo Morales run for re-election and hand him even tighter control over the economy.

Aymara, Quechua, Guarani and other indigenous groups who suffered centuries of discrimination in South America's poorest country largely backed the new constitution and exit polls showed it was approved with around 60 percent support.

The new constitution will give the Indian majority more seats in Congress and greater clout in the justice system. It also officially recognizes their pre-Columbian spiritual traditions and promotes their languages.

"A new country is being founded for all Bolivians," an ebullient Morales, 49, told a cheering crowd in front of the presidential palace in La Paz on Sunday night.

Morales, an Aymara Indian who herded llamas as a boy and went on to lead the country's coca-leaf farmers, is Bolivia's first indigenous president and is popular among the poor.

"I voted yes for change. Now there will be more work and more money," said German Guzman, a 56-year-old disabled man who voted in the city of Cochabamba.

The rightist opposition accuses Morales of pushing the new constitution to grab more power as he will now be able to run for a second consecutive term in office in an election later this year.

Bolivia was shaken by violent anti-Morales protests last September as opponents feared the president would break up large landholdings in wealthy eastern provinces where a European-descended elite dominates.