In a major electoral surprise Bolivia gave an overwhelming mandate to left-wing Indian leader Evo Morales in Sunday's presidential elections. He will be the first president from the indigenous majority since independence from Spain in 1825.
Defying all opinion polls and the almost total unanimity of the country's political pundits, Mr Morales was set to romp to the first outright victory in a presidential election since the country returned to democracy in 1982.
He has over 50 per cent of the vote, a full 20 points ahead of his nearest rival, the right-wing candidate Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga. It is an unprecedented margin of victory in a country where presidents have struggled to break above a quarter of the vote in recent elections.
The result is a sharp turn to the left in a continent where leftists have in recent years won power in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.
Opinion polls and analysts had predicted that neither Mr Morales nor Mr Quiroga would achieve a clear mandate, and that the decision would be left to the country's congress as to who would be the next president. But the party headed by Mr Morales, the Movement Towards Socialism, has always held that opinion polls grossly underestimated its support, claiming this was part of a "dirty war" by the establishment to undermine it.
In his victory speech on Sunday night Mr Morales promised the country's poor majority, mainly Indian, an end to "the injustice, the discrimination, the marginalisation which we have suffered historically and an end to neo-liberalism and the colonial state to construct an inclusive and more just country."
Sunday's results will cause deep dismay in the US. Mr Morales says he will end Bolivia's US-backed policy of coca eradication, allowing the free cultivation of the primary ingredient in cocaine. He entered politics representing poor coca growers fighting against the eradication effort and says he wants to industrialise coca for legitimate means, such as medicine and as a tea.
Mr Morales's humble background as a lorry driver and coca grower was crucial in appealing to an electorate worn out by promises from the white elite, which he accused of robbing the country's natural resources for private gain.
But his ability to implement his radical agenda will be hindered somewhat by the fact the his party performed less well than its leader. It will be a minority in the senate and struggles to form a majority in the lower house.
The party also performed poorly in the races for the powerful new positions of prefects for Bolivia's nine regions. It looks likely to win only two of those races and none of the three most populous regions.