Leftist poised to win Bolivian presidency

SOCIALIST candidate Evo Morales, who has promised to halt a US-backed campaign to end coca growing, appeared to have to won Bolivia’s presidential elections, a victory that would solidify the continent’s shift toward the political left.

Raucous celebrations erupted among Mr Morales' supporters after nationally televised exit polls Sunday night showed him with a decisive lead over Jose Quiroga, a former president who was backed by Bolivia's business elite.

Mr Morales, 46, a coca farmer and Aymara Indian, has vowed to become Washington's "nightmare", and counts among his friends Cuba's Fidel Castro and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, along with leftists in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.