Bolivia was today on the verge of voting in its first Indian president, after the coca activist Evo Morales won an unexpectedly large majority in yesterday’s elections.

Señor Morales’s rivals conceded defeat when unofficial results compiled by the local media showed him taking close to 50 per cent of the vote, much higher than predicted.

Raucous celebrations erupted among the supporters of his Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) party as the news emerged. If confirmed by the country's Congress - by no means a formality - the man who called himself Washington’s "nightmare" would be the first Indian president in a nation with an Indian majority.

"There’s an enormous responsibility to change our history," Señor Morales told jubilant supporters last night. "And with these election results I’m convinced that the change that the Bolivian people are seeking will be respected."

Señor Morales said during the campaign that he would end a US-backed crusade to eliminate coca, the crop used to make cocaine. He also promised to reverse the nation’s free-market policies.

"I publicly and openly congratulate Don Evo Morales," said his chief rival, Jorge Quiroga, a conservative free-market advocate. "Now is the moment to set aside our differences and look to the future with peace, tranquillity and harmony among all Bolivians."

The apparent third-placed candidate, cement magnate Samuel Doria Medina, also conceded defeat: "Evo Morales won and that’s what I have to say." He had earlier vowed to throw his support in a run-off to any candidate with a 5 per cent victory margin.

Equipos Mori, an independent polling company, said that returns from about 80 per cent of polling places showed Señor Morales a little short of 50 per cent of the vote, followed by Señor Quiroga with 30 percent.

First official results from the National Electoral Court were not expected until later today and more significant results possibly tomorrow, authorities said, because of delays in gathering the official voting acts from more than 20,000 sites around the mountainous country.

Señor Morales counts among his friends Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, both critics of the US, along with leftists in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay who have gained power at the ballot box this decade. An AP correspondent at Señor Morales’s home in Cochabamba reported that he received a phone call of congratulation from Señor Chavez straight after the exit polls were released.

"If (the US) wants relations, welcome," Señor Morales said after voting, at a news conference where piles of coca leaves were spread on top of a Bolivian flag. "But no to a relationship of submission."

If Señor Morales fails to win more than 50 per cent of the popular vote, Bolivia’s newly elected Congress must decide the presidency - a parliamentary process that would involve some coalition-building, and would be likely to act as a moderating influence on Señor Morales, even with his unexpectedly wide margin.

Señor Morales, a 46-year-old Aymaran Indian, has been a thorn in Washington’s side since he rose to power leading the coca-leaf farmers in Bolivia’s tropical Chapare region in the 1990s.

Bolivia is the world’s third-largest grower of coca, a plant that has traditional, legal uses among the country’s Indians but also is used to make cocaine. US-backed coca eradication efforts there have met with often violent resistance from farmers led by Señor Morales.

Señor Morales has promised to increase state control of Bolivia’s vast natural gas reserves and to increase Indian rights, although he could face new protest marches from more radical social movements if he fails to act quickly.

"I am the candidate of those despised in Bolivian history, the candidate of the most disdained, discriminated against," he said as he went to vote. He had to push his way through a crowd of admirers, some rushing forward to kiss him, at a dilapidated basketball court in the village school.

Señor Morales grew up in extreme poverty, only two of his six brothers and sisters surviving childhood in Bolivia’s bleak Andean highlands.

"I’m happy to see the people in power," said Carols Yang, a Morales supporter. "We’re showing the whole world that with each day, the people’s struggle for equality, liberty and justice becomes more important."

Outside his campaign headquarters hundreds of his supporters chanted "Evo! Evo!" In the capital of La Paz, firecrackers boomed and caravans of honking cars paraded down avenues, their passengers shouting "Evo, President!"

Señor Quiroga, 45, said that he would respect the decision of MPs and hoped that the congressional process would not lead to the sort of crippling street protests Señor Morales had led in the past.

In the five presidential elections since 1985, Congress has passed over the first-placed candidate twice, though it has never faced such a large victory margin in the popular vote.

Hundreds of international monitors made it one of the mostly closely watched elections in the country’s history, and Sunday’s voting was conducted under heavy police guard.

The winner starts a five-year term on January 22 as Bolivia’s fourth president since August 2002, succeeding caretaker President Eduardo Rodriguez, who was appointed by Congress on June 8, two days after street protests ended the 18-month administration of Carlos Mesa.

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