Bolivia ? Both sides in Bolivia’s bitter political standoff came out of a weekend recall referendum Monday with reason to declare victory. The big loser appeared to be national unity.

President Evo Morales won a renewed mandate for his socialist vision, garnering more than 60 percent of the vote, according to preliminary counting.

But his chief antagonists in the rebellious, resource-rich crescent of lowland states known as the “half moon” also savored their triumph. All four opposition governors in the region easily survived the plebiscite in an explicit endorsement of their march toward regional autonomy – a move that Morales decries as a treasonous splitting of the nation.

The president’s electoral might was heavily concentrated in the four heavily indigenous western and central highland states, long his base, which he swept handily. But a majority of voters in each of Bolivia’s other five states apparently voted for Morales’ expulsion from office, according to preliminary results that won’t be official for a week or so.