President Morales sets date of Bolivia recall vote

The opposition governor of La Paz state, Jose Luis Paredes, won the pro-Morales stronghold with only 38 percent in 2005. If 39 percent of the state votes against him in the recall, he'll be removed from office -even if 61 percent vote to keep him.

"It makes an unfair difference, and I'm the most affected," Paredes said. "But I also think it's a good way out of this impasse we find ourselves in. If I lose, I'm going home and President Morales will just have to choose a new governor."

Should Morales lose, he must call a new presidential election to be held between three and six months.

But any governor who loses will be immediately removed from office, with Morales naming an interim replacement until new state elections.

The language of the referendum does not prohibit Morales or the governors from running again if recalled.

Morales has agreed to the recall at arguably the most difficult moment of his young presidency -only a week after the Santa Cruz autonomy vote. Three other states plan autonomy votes in June.

While his opposition is gaining steam in the country's eastern flatlands, Morales is wagering that a recall will help his Movement Toward Socialism party pick off a governorship or two in the rest of the country -with La Paz a chief target.

"It's great Bolivian chess," said Jim Shultz, director of the nonprofit Democracy Center, which monitors Bolivian politics. "I'm assuming they've played through all the moves, and it's not a bad board for Evo Morales. Not a bad board at all."