COCHABAMBA, Bolivia (AP) – Socialist Evo Morales appears assured of becoming Bolivia’s next president, according to unofficial results Monday, an outcome that would solidify South America’s shift toward the political left.

Morales, who has promised to end a U.S.-backed crusade to eliminate coca, the crop used to make cocaine, may have won a clear majority in Sunday’s vote, which would avoid having Bolivia’s congress choose among the top two vote-getters in January. His closest challenger among seven other candidates received only about 30 percent, independent counts showed.

If confirmed by official results, the man who calls himself Washington’s “nightmare” would be the first Indian president in Bolivia, where a long-oppressed Indian majority has become increasingly active and impatient for progress.

Raucous celebrations erupted among his supporters broke out as the results became known.

“There’s an enormous responsibility to change our history,” Morales told jubilant supporters Sunday night. “And with these election results I’m convinced that the change that the Bolivian people are seeking will be respected.”

Morales also has vowed to reverse the nation’s free-market policies and get better deals for Bolivia’s vast natural gas reserves.

Rival candidates acknowledged that Morales’ lead – even if he fails to get the 50 percent needed to win outright – makes it all but a formality that congress will confirm him as president when it meets in mid-January. The process would involve some coalition building and likely be a moderating influence on Morales, even with his unexpectedly wide margin.

“I publicly and openly congratulate Don Evo Morales,” said his chief rival, Jorge Quiroga, a conservative free-market advocate. “Now is the moment to set aside our differences and look to the future with peace, tranquility and harmony among all Bolivians.”

The apparent third-place vote-getter, right-wing cement magnate Samuel Doria Medina, said simply that “Evo Morales won and that’s what I have to say.” He had earlier vowed to throw his support in a runoff to any candidate with a 5 percent victory margin.

Independent vote counts by Red Televisa Bolivision and Apoyo Opinion y Mercado of Peru showed Morales winning 51 percent of the vote. An Equipos Mori poll showed him with about 50 percent.

First official results from the National Electoral Court were not expected until later Monday and more significant returns possibly Tuesday, authorities said, citing delays in gathering ballots from more than 20,000 sites around the mountainous country.

Morales counts among his friends U.S. critics Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, along with leftists in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay who have gained power at the ballot box this decade. After the exit polls were released, an Associated Press reporter at Morales’ home in Cochabamba said he immediately received a phone call from Chavez.

“If (the U.S.) wants relations, welcome,” Morales said at a news conference where piles of coca leaves were spread atop a Bolivian flag. “But no to a relationship of submission.”

Morales, 46, has been an irritant for Washington since he rose to power leading the coca-leaf farmers in Bolivia’s tropical Chapare region in the 1990s. Bolivia is the world’s third-largest grower of coca, a plant that has traditional, legal uses among the country’s Indians but also is used to make cocaine. U.S.-backed coca eradication efforts there have met with often violent resistance from farmers led by Morales.

If Morales fails to achieve results quickly, he could face new protest marches from more radical social movements.

“I am the candidate of those despised in Bolivian history, the candidate of the most disdained, discriminated against,” he said after working through a crowd of admirers – some rushing forward to kiss him – to vote at a dilapidated basketball court in the village school.

Morales grew up in extreme poverty, only two of his six brothers and sisters surviving childhood in Bolivia’s bleak Andean highlands.

Outside his campaign headquarters hundreds of his supporters chanted “Evo! Evo!” In the capital of La Paz, firecrackers boomed and caravans of honking cars paraded down avenues, their passengers shouting “Evo, President!”

In the five presidential elections since 1985, congress has passed over the first- place candidate twice – although it has never faced such a large victory margin in the popular vote.

Hundreds of international monitors made it one of the mostly closely watched elections in the country’s history, and the vote was conducted under heavy police guard.

The winner starts a five-year term on Jan. 22 as Bolivia’s fourth president since August 2002. Caretaker President Eduardo Rodriguez was appointed by Congress on June 8, two days after street protests ended the 18-month administration of Carlos Mesa.

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Associated Press Writer Bill Cormier in La Paz contributed to this report.

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