Bolivia ? President Evo Morales appeared to have won a sweeping victory Sunday in a nationwide recall election that the leftist chief of state crafted as a means of consolidating support against fierce conservative opposition.

Partial unofficial results based on quick counts at polling places indicated that between 56 percent and 63 percent of voters cast ballots in favor of Morales and Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera, according to local television stations.

Those totals easily exceeded the 46.3 percent that the president needed to stay in office. The reported vote also surpassed the 53.7 percent that the president garnered when elected in December 2005.

Supporters had plastered graffiti throughout the capital seeking a pro-Morales vote of 60 percent – a decisive margin that would give new impetus for the president’s controversial socialist agenda of nationalizations, land redistribution and a new constitution.