Bolivia’s opposition candidate concedes defeat to Evo Morales in presidential vote

The main opposition candidate in Bolivia's election conceded defeat to Evo Morales on Monday, after the socialist president looked certain to have easily won a third consecutive term in Sunday's presidential election.

Morales, a former coca grower who become the country's first indigenous president in 2006, claimed victory on Sunday evening. An exit poll and a TV station's quick vote count indicated he had secured about 60 percent of the vote.

They showed Morales' Movement towards Socialism winning eight of nine regions, including Santa Cruz, the country's most affluent region and traditionally the bastion of the opposition.

Official results were due later on Monday, with electoral officials blaming technical difficulties for delays.

Buoying Morales' popularity is his use of cash from a natural gas boom to cut poverty, while he also has won plaudits abroad for maintaining fiscal discipline.

Cement magnate Samuel Doria Medina, who appeared to have won around 25 percent of the vote, blamed his third electoral defeat on ex-president Jorge Quiroga, who entered the contest late and who Doria Medina said had split the anti-Morales vote.

It was not clear if Morales' bloc had obtained the two-thirds of Congress it needs to give the president the full legislative control he is seeking for his third term, which he has pledged will be his last.

The 54-year-old Morales is likely to continue with his pragmatic socialism approach in a prospective third term, analysts said.

"He seems to have found a winning formula in his second term and he will see how far he can take it in the third," said Michael Shifter, president of the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue think-tank on Monday.

Nonetheless, the socialist leader had been "riding a wave" of strong external demand and high prices for natural gas and there remained questions about how long such conditions would last, as well as Morales willingness to develop a more diversified economy, said Shifter.

(Writing by Rosalba O'Brien Editing by W Simon)