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Santa Cruz: Local exit polls have showed that 85 per cent of voters in Bolivia seek greater autonomy from the government of leftist President Evo Morales.
Morales dismissed the referendum on Sunday as a failure. He claimed that as many as half the ballots were invalid. Results will not be available for days.
Santa Cruz, the centre of Bolivia's conservative opposition, had called for the vote in hopes of separating the state's freewheeling capitalism and mixed-blood heritage from Morales' push for a communal state ruled by Indian values.
Minor clashes across the eastern lowland state of Santa Cruz injured at least 25 people during the vote, and relatives of a 70-year-old man said he was killed when police fired tear gas to break up one scuffle. Police could not confirm the death.
Morales called for talks with autonomy leaders. "Let's work together tomorrow for a true autonomy..For the people, and not just certain groups, an autonomy that permits the people to decide their destiny."
Santa Cruz leaders want to keep a bigger slice of the state's key natural gas revenues and to shelter vast soy plantations and cattle ranches from Morales' plan to redistribute land to the poor.
Morales, the country's first indigenous president, argues that he needs a strong central government to spread Santa Cruz's wealth to the rest of Bolivia, South America's poorest country.
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