La Paz - Left-wing nationalist President Evo Morales was rebuffed Monday by the central election commission, which rejected his application for a controversial constitutional referendum on December 7.

The panel said it would not organize the vote.

The election commission president Jose Luis Exeni ruled that the parliament had to approve such referendum, as well as a second referendum about provincial powers that Moralese wants.

Morales had issued a decree last week that ordered the referendums to be held.

In addition, the election panel ruled that the 120-day registration deadline for another election planned for December 7 - the election of new prefects of La Paz and Cochabamba - had not been met.

The constitutional draft, which Morales says is to improve the lot of the country's impoverished indigenous majority in the east of the country, was approved last year in an elected assembly boycotted by the opposition.

However, five prosperous western regions, populated by descendants of immigrants, are fiercely opposed to the new constitution, and strive for far-reaching autonomy from the central government.

Earlier this month, the leftist president won a recall vote by a resounding 67-per-cent majority, regarded as an endorsement of his plans to go ahead with his the new constitution. (dpa)