Electoral officials in Bolivia say the former President and businessman, Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, has won the most votes in the country's presidential elections - though not enough to win outright.

Mr Sanchez de Lozada - a right-wing pro-market reformer - obtained nearly 22.5% of the vote.

Election results

Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada: 22.46% Evo Morales: 20.92% Manfredo Reyes Villa: 20.92%

But the great surprise in the election was the second place obtained by coca farmers' leader Evo Morales, who beat one of the pre-poll favourites, Manfred Reyes Villa, by around 700 votes.

Under Bolivian law it now falls to Congress to choose the president between the two leading candidates ahead of the 6 August inauguration.

Officials said 0.3% of the votes have yet to be counted, but said they would not make a difference to the results already announced.

Anti-US campaigner

Bad weather delayed the counting process by over a week, with heavy snows blocking access to parts of the south of the country.

Mr Reyes Villa was widely expected to come second

Initial results had Mr Reyes Villa, a former army captain and mayor, running neck and neck with Mr Sanchez de Lozada.

Mr Morales' success came as a surprise - exit polls had placed him third, with around 16% of the vote.

An Aymara Indian and leader of a peasant movement, Evo Morales is well-known for organising anti-government protests and for his opposition to the US-backed drug-eradication programmes.

Changes promised

Before the election, the United States warned that financial aid could be withdrawn if Mr Morales became president.

An intervention, correspondents say, that is likely to have benefited the Mr Morales amid growing public frustration with what many Bolivians see as foreign interference in their country.

All three leading candidates promised major changes during their campaigns.

And correspondents say whoever is chosen as president, is likely to move away from free market policies - which have so far failed to improve Bolivia's position as one of the poorest countries in Latin America.

The nine parties represented in Congress are now expected to try and form alliances to reach the necessary 80 out of 157 votes to choose a president.