(Recast) Roundup: Bolivian president's bid for 4th term projected to fail in referendum

Bolivian President Evo Morales was set to lose his bid for a fourth consecutive term, preliminary results of Sunday's referendum indicated.

Official results from 23 percent of polling stations reported a 67 percent "no" vote, while vote reports from the countryside, where Morales is most admired, were particularly slow.

Two unofficial "quick counts" saw a 52 percent negative vote after the polling firms looked at counts from a sampling of polling stations. One firm, Ipsos-Apoyo, said it saw ballots at one of every 15 polling stations.

The final results are expected by Tuesday, according to the country's Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE).

More than 100 international observers from various global organizations were watching the referendum. They have reported only minor irregularities in Sunday's vote, said Antonio Costas, vice president of the TSE.

Sunday's referendum came as a blow to Morales, who won the support of 60 percent of the electorate for his third presidential term in 2014.

While Bolivia has seen impressive progress in social and economic development under Morales in the past 10 years, the recent charges of influence peddling leveled against his former lover, Gabriela Zapata, have had his image tarnished.

Both Morales and Zapata denied the accusations, yet Morales' claim that he last saw the woman in 2007 was challenged by a picture of them together last year.

Along with the scandal, cases such as judicial corruption, prison overcrowding, health care crisis and restricted press freedom all overshadowed Morales' achievements in cutting poverty, spreading Bolivia's natural resource wealth and empowering its indigenous majority.

More than 6.5 million Bolivians went to the polls on Sunday to decide whether to amend the constitution so that Morales can run for a fourth term in a row.

Under the Bolivian constitution, which was adopted in 2009, the president can be re-elected only once. In Sunday's referendum, voters were asked to offer opinion about an amendment to the clause.

Although Morales has won presidential elections in 2005, 2009 and 2014, his first term did not count as it occurred before the enactment of the 2009 constitution. Endi