Initial results showed Monday that Bolivians have overwhelmingly approved more state involvement in the country's natural gas industry.

Local press hailed the results as a vote of confidence for President Carlos Mesa, according to reports from La Paz, the administrative capital of Bolivia.

Editorials with headlines, such as "The majority said 'yes' to the five questions and to the president himself," "A strengthened Mesa asks Congress to respect the voice of people," and "The referendum gives a 'yes" to gas exports" appeared in Monday's local newspapers.

Mesa announced the referendum in October after an uprising against government plans to export gas led to the resignation of Mesa's predecessor, Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada.

About 4.5 million of Bolivia's 8 million people voted Sunday. The final results will come out on Aug. 4.

Mesa said late Sunday that the country backed his proposals to allow natural gas exports and increase state control over the nation's huge reserves in a referendum aimed at appeasing an impoverished Indian majority.

"The five questions have been answered, each one, with a yes," Mesa told a news conference.

The National Electoral Court (CEN) supported Mesa's claim, with12 percent of the voting stations counted early Monday.

The "yes" vote will help strengthen Mesa's tenure, with polls showing 60 percent of Bolivians in support of Mesa, according to local press.

Bolivia, one of the South America's poorest country, has been split by the natural gas issue. The low-income Indian majority have called for national control over the resources, while the European-descended elites insisted on more foreign investment and more exports.

At nearly 55 trillion cubic feet, Bolivia has the second largest gas reserves in Latin America after Venezuela.

Source: Xinhua