Bolivia’s presidential election heads for run off

Bolivia’s presidential election looks set for an unprecedented run-off in December after preliminary results suggested that socialist Evo Morales had failed to win outright a controversial fourth term. Following his toughest presidential fight since sweeping to power in 2006, the country’s first indigenous president on Sunday night hailed a “historic triumph”, despite failing to secure a sufficient lead over Carlos Mesa, a former president. Mr Morales was ahead with 45.7 per cent of the vote with 83.8 per cent of ballots counted, while Mr Mesa was on 37.8 per cent. Mr Morales needed at least 40 per cent of the 5m votes cast, plus a lead of more than 10 percentage points over Mr Mesa to avoid a second-round vote on December 15.