CARLOS VALDEZ
Associated Press
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivia's Evo Morales declared himself the outright winner Thursday of an election in which he was seeking a fourth term as president, enraging his opponents who alleged vote fraud and called for further protests to demand a second round of voting.
With more than 99 percent of the votes counted from Sunday's election, Bolivia's first indigenous president had 46.9% support against 36.6% for former president Carlos Mesa, just barely giving Morales the 10 percentage point lead over his nearest rival needed to avoid a runoff vote between the two. Seven other candidates were in the race.
"We won in the first round. There are 1.58% (of the votes) left to count but we won with the rural vote," Morales, the region's longest ruling leader
