La Paz, Oct 22 (AFP) The main opposition candidate in Bolivia's presidential election refused Monday to recognize results that seemed set to give victory to long-time incumbent Evo Morales, as election monitors voiced "deep concern".

Carlos Mesa, a former president who came a close second to Morales in Sunday's polls -- forcing a run-off according to preliminary results -- denounced revised results released by election authorities as a "fraud".

Election monitors from the Organization of American States earlier expressed "deep concern and surprise" at changes to the election count that showed Morales closing in on an outright victory in the first round.

"The OAS mission expresses its deep concern and surprise at the drastic and hard-to-explain change in the trend of the preliminary results revealed after the closing of the polls," it said in a statement.

Preliminary results released late Sunday showed neither Morales nor Mesa with a majority and "clearly indicated a second round," the OAS mission said. (AFP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)