COCA FARMER REACHES FINAL STAGE IN ELECTIONS

His Showing Shows Growing Dissatisfaction Among Nation's Indians

LA PAZ, Bolivia - A Bolivian coca farmer who wants to stop U.S.-backed
eradication efforts has reached the final stage of Bolivian presidential
elections, electoral officials said.

Evo Morales, an Aymara Indian, looks unlikely to beat centrist millionaire
Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada when Bolivia's Congress meets Aug. 3 to choose
the winner. But his second-place showing - made official by results
released Tuesday - shows growing dissatisfaction among Indians who have
long been dominated politically by people of European descent.

Morales is the leader of Bolivia's coca farmers and fiercely opposes
efforts to eradicate their crop, part of which is used to make cocaine.
Most of the crop is used for traditional purposes, he says, arguing that
coca symbolizes Bolivian pride and history.

After 10 days of vote-counting slowed down by snow storms in remote areas,
the National Election Council announced Tuesday that Sanchez de Lozada
officially won with 22.46 of the vote. Morales was second with 20.94.

Manfred Reyes Villa, a populist retired army captain, placed third with
20.91 percent, 714 votes behind Morales.

Bolivia's Congress will meet Aug. 3 to pick a new president from the two
top vote-getters.

Sanchez de Lozada, a former president who owns Bolivia's largest mining
company, is widely considered to have the best chance of winning the vote
in Congress. His centrist Nationalist Revolutionary Movement has 50 seats
in the 157-member legislature, compared with 30 controlled by Morales' New
Republican Force party.

Sanchez de Lozada, who ruled from 1993 to 1997, appeared late Tuesday close
to gaining enough support from other parties, including the Leftist
Revolutionary Movement, MIR, of former president Jaime Paz Zamora, who
placed a distant fourth in the presidential race.

Officials close to Paz Zamora said the party, which controls 30 seats in
Congress, may announce its support for Sanchez de Lozada today.

The National Democratic Action, or ADN, party of outgoing President Jorge
Quiroga was also leaning to support Sanchez de Lozada. It has five seats in
congress.

Support from his own party plus those from MIR and ADN would give Sanchez
de Lozada far more than the 79 votes required to be elected by the
157-member legislature.