A LEADING indigenous Aymara Bolivian activist has warned that a survey showing the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) of ousted president Evo Morales would easily win the next election will prompt an intensified crackdown on his supporters.

A study by the The Latin America Strategic Centre for Geopolitics published on Tuesday showed that MAS presidential candidate Luis Arce – the regime established by last November’s coup has banned Mr Morales from standing – would win 41.9 per cent of the vote, more than the 10-point lead required to allow a first-round victory over right-wing candidate Carlos Mesa on 26.8 per cent .

Mr Mesa came second in last October’s election with 36.51 per cent to Mr Morales’s 47.08 per cent. Opposition claims that Mr Morales’s 10-point lead was not genuine provided the excuse for the military to overthrow him and install Jeanine Anez, whom Tuesday’s poll showed on just 13 per cent of the vote.