BOLIVIA: Bolivians went to the polls yesterday in a presidential election that may hand power to their first Indian president - a coca-leaf farm leader who calls his leftist movement "a nightmare for the US".
Evo Morales, an admirer of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, is expected to receive the most votes - 34 per cent, according to recent opinion polls.
If elected, he will join a new generation of leftists in power in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.
Under Bolivian law, Congress, which will also be renewed in the election, will choose the new president in January if no one takes more than 50 per cent of the vote.
Massive street protests have forced out two Bolivian presidents in the last three years. The impoverished country is split between conflicting demands of the disenfranchised Indian majority and the ruling whites.
Washington considers Mr Morales an enemy of its anti-drug fight in Bolivia, the third-biggest cocaine-producing nation after Colombia and Peru.
"I challenge the United States to create a real alliance to fight narcotrafficking," Mr Morales said, after voting in his hometown in the heart of the coca-leaf growing region. Mr Morales, an Aymara Indian, wants to legalise coca-growing for traditional uses such as tea, and pledges to nationalise the country's rich natural gas resources.
Bolivians were polarised between Mr Morales and rightist Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga, who is seen taking second place with about 29 per cent. Mr Quiroga has pledged to keep Bolivia on a free-market course and support US coca-eradication efforts.
"I'm fully confident that will vote for a Bolivia with progress, jobs, open markets, social assistance, and natural gas development.
"That's what we are looking for," Mr Quiroga said.
Many Bolivians worry the country will return to social upheaval no matter who wins, because a leader who takes office with a small margin will have trouble resolving the landlocked country's complex problems.
The new leader must address calls for constitutional reforms giving more rights to Indians, demands for more autonomy for the provinces, and an ongoing debate on how to develop the country's huge natural gas fields.