Havana, July 3 (ACN) Bolivia's President Evo Morales claimed victory for his governing Movement Towards Socialism Party in elections for delegates to a Constituent Assembly on Sunday.

During a press conference alongside Vice President Alvaro Garcia and the mayor of La Paz, Juan del Granado, Morales thanked the Bolivian people for their support to consolidate the process of change taking place in the South American nation, Granma newspaper reports.

After praising the democratic nature of the balloting, which also included a simultaneous referendum on departmental autonomy, Morales called the vote a triple victory that backs the nationalization of the country's oil and gas industries and his government's effort to change the neoliberal economic model imposed on the country by previous governments.

Morales noted that preliminary results showed the referendum on departmental autonomy, opposed by the government, was losing nationally by a 55-45 percent margin, although he recognized it had won in four departments.

The president said his party had received over 60% of the vote, up from the 53.7 percent in last December's presidential elections. He expressed his confidence that the MAS delegates will have an absolute majority when the Constituent Assembly sessions on August 6. The assembly will spend 6-12 months drafting a new constitution that will then be voted on by the people.

At press time MAS appeared to have 135 of the 255 Constituent Assembly seats. However, Morales noted that in several voting districts his supporters went under other organizations that increases the majority, but still fell short of the two-thirds needed to fully control the Constituent Assembly.

Morales said his party will seek to integrate other forces into his government's struggle to benefit the previously disenfranchised and marginalized poor, mainly indigenous population.