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Bolivian President Evo Morales easily won a recall vote Sunday, which was a strategy authored by Morales to end a political stalemate and revive his socialist agenda.

Eight of the country's nine governors were also facing recall with two Morales opponents among the three governors recalled in the election.  Governor José Luis Paredes of the capital LaPaz and Governor Manfred Reyes Villa of the department of Cochabamba lost along with the governor of the Oruro department, a Morales supporter.

However, Reyes has vowed to ignore any recall ousting him, claiming the vote is unconstitutional.

In the meantime, Morales' recall gamble backfired somewhat as four of the main opposition governors also survived the recall vote. The bloc of four surviving opposition governors have challenged Morales' efforts to turn Bolivia into a socialist state modeled on Hugo Chavez's Venezuela. The governors of Oruro and Potosi, Santa Cruz Governor Rubén Costas Aguilera, Pando Governor Leopoldo Fernandez , Tarija Governor Mario Cossío and Beni Governor Ernesto Suarez will keep their jobs. The departments of Beni, Pando, Santa Cruz and Tarija all voted in favor of autonomy from the national government.

The recently elected governor of central Chuquisaca Province Savina Cuellar, the nation's only female governor, was exempt from the referendum. Bolivian Vice President Álvaro Garcia Linera also survived the recall vote.

Frankin Pareja, a professor of political science at the San Andres University in La Paz told Reuters that "the initial reading is that the political crisis and tension in the country is going to deepen greatly." A stalemate between Morales and six of the country's nine governors had resulted in a political crisis in the nation as four regions voted for autonomy from the national government.

In the states where three governors have been ousted, Morales can appoint interim governors pending an election.

Political analysts have predicted that Morales' win by a large margin will prompt him to immediately pursue changes which including rewriting the nation's constitution to benefit the indigenous population, which comprises the majority of Bolivia's poor.

Among those changes are a redistribution of wealth from the country's hydrocarbons industry, the introduction of land reforms and paving the way for Morales to run for a second term as president.  Reports say Morales won the referendum with 63/5% supporting his administration. He initially won the presidency in 2005 with 53.7% of the vote.