Bolivia elects Morales in recall vote

By Naomi Mapstone in La Paz
Published: August 11 2008

Evo Morales, Bolivia’s president, claimed a reinvigorated mandate for constitutional reform on Sunday after a partial count showed he had won more than 60 per cent of the vote in a national recall election.

The president is expected to move swiftly to seek approval for a new draft constitution that would redistribute wealth from the country’s hydrocarbons industry, introduce land reforms and open the way for him to run for a second term.

“We are convinced that it is important to unite all Bolivians. The vote is to unite different sectors – countryside and the city, the east and the west,” he said.

Amid chants of “Evo, we are with you!” Mr Morales said he would fight to bring dignity to all Bolivians.

But while the president, with almost 90 per cent of the vote counted, surpassed his 2005 election victory, he still faces staunch opposition from the country’s wealthier regions in the east, such as Santa Cruz.

Ruben Costas, governor of Santa Cruz, on Sunday night accused Mr Morales of being a tyrant and said his province would not back down on its desire for autonomy.

“This government is insensitive, totalitarian … it denies development to the people; it’s trying to concentrate power and turn us into his beggar,” he said.

Branco Marinkovic, a Santa Cruz landowner and head of the Civic Committee that represents the pro-autonomy states, said: “The East wants to continue in a free market, they want to continue with a system whereby the people can actually progress … this really isn’t an indigenous matter or a race matter, it’s just a matter of them holding on to power.”

In Cochabamba, tensions ran high when Manfred Reyes Villa, the governor, refused to acknowledge his defeat at the polls, saying the re-call vote was illegal.

Mr Morales in turn says the autonomy votes passed in the provinces of Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando and Tarija this year were illegal. Such is the depth of feeling between the pro-autonomy states and the president that Mr Morales could not visit several states this week because protesters blocked airports and threatened violence.

Jim Shultz, a Cochabamba-based political analyst, said Mr Morales needed to find a way to avoid the perception that he represented only the indigenous.

“At an emotional level, Evo represents two of the things that are the most powerful forces in politics: hope and fear. For about half this country he represents hope … and then there are the people who look at Evo and he inspires their deepest fear.

Osvaldo “Chato” Prada, an academic and pro-Morales member of the Assembly that drafted the proposed constitution, said the government and opposition had to find a way to break their deadlock.

“We are in a state of very unstable equilibrium,” he said. “Things will continue to be stuck unless there is a real dialogue. The government is interested in taking measures to deepen this process of change, this revolution. And those revolve around the draft of the new Constitution. But both parties have to sit and talk.”
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008