A new stage in Bolivia's bid for political stability has got under way this week. On Sunday 10 August, Bolivians voted in a recall election to express their support for President Evo Morales and Vice-President Álvaro García Linera, but also for each of the prefects, or heads of the nine departments into which Bolivia is divided.

Provisional results give the President and Vice-President a comfortable victory, with 65% of the vote. Department by department results show that Morales won in La Paz, Cochabamba, Oruro and Potosí. But Morales failed to secure a victory in the four departments that form the "media luna", or half-moon, (Santa Cruz, Tarija, Beni and Pando), or in Chuquisaca.

As for the departmental leaders, the prefects of La Paz, Cochabamba and Oruro proved unable to equal or improve upon the results of the last elections and have therefore been dismissed. The other prefects, including the four prefects that have tirelessly campaigned against the Morales administration in recent months and approved unilateral Statutes of Autonomy, have held onto their posts.

Following a referendum that has strengthened both sides, Bolivia now enters a new phase. Morales has already announced that he wants to meet with prefects for "sincere and transparent" talks that take into account "all Bolivians". The Bolivian President has also said that he intends to "make the Statutes compatible with the new Constitution", and that his government will promote "autonomy for the entire population and not just for small, but powerful groups of power", reported the state news agency.

In the meantime, the four prefects of the half-moon departments will begin to implement the Statutes of Autonomy without the approval of the Bolivian Government in an effort to hasten the drawing up of a new constitution.

Further information:

• Election results in Corte Nacional de Bolivia
• ABI: Evo llamará al diálogo luego de conocer resultados oficiales del referendo
• El Diario: Presidente y prefectos de la "medialuna" ratificados