Tehran - Bolivian President

La Paz - Bolivian President Evo Morales Thursday set the date for a national referendum on a controversial new constitution, which threatens to further split the country.

Morales will seek approval for the new constitution, a key element of his reform agenda, on December 7. An election of prefects for the regions of La Paz and Cochabamba as well as local representatives was scheduled for the same day.

La Paz - The official results were still not in late Monday, but Bolivian President Evo Morales has already claimed victory in a referendum on whether he should retain power.

According to exit polls cited by television network ATB and other Bolivian media, Morales survived the recall referendum Sunday, by obtaining 56.7 per cent of the votes.

His mandate would have been revoked had he failed to get at least 46.3 per cent of the votes.

On Monday, the confident government asked the opposition to remain calm, understand the implications of the results and accept the offer for dialogue that Morales made late Sunday.

Buenos Aires/La Paz - Sunday's recall election of Bolivian President Evo Morales and other leaders is the latest in a series of showdown referenda, between the leftist president and the country's wealthy provinces, over regional autonomy.

Since Morales' election in 2005, the country's first Indio president has pushed through a new constitution and enacted a series of socialist reforms to aid the poor native population in the mountainous west.

La Paz  - Just hours after the official presidential helicopter transported Bolivia's Evo Morales, the aircraft crashed, killing one Brazilian and four Venezuelan pilots, defence officials said Monday.

The Super Puma aircraft - provided for Morales' use by the air force of far-away, oil-rich Venezuela - crashed on Sunday on its way from Cochabamba to Cobija, about
1,200 kilometres north of the capital. The reasons for the accident had not been determined.

La Paz