 Morales easily wins recall vote
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-12 08:16
Bolivian President Evo Morales easily won a recall vote and vowed to push on with socialist reforms that his rightist opponents are trying to block. Sunday's election pitted Morales against governors who have pushed for autonomy for their resource-rich provinces and are furious that he has cut their share of windfall natural gas revenues. Morales, a former coca leaf farmer who is Bolivia's first indigenous leader, hopes his victory will allow him to forge ahead with changes like nationalizations, land redistribution and a constitution that aims to give more power to the poor. But his main rivals also won recall votes on Sunday, meaning the conflict will continue and could get worse as both sides feel they have won a new mandate to stand firm. "What the Bolivian people have expressed with their votes today is the consolidation of change," a beaming Morales told thousands of cheering supporters who gathered outside his presidential palace in La Paz. "We're here to move forward with the recovery of our natural resources, the consolidation of nationalization, and the state takeover of companies." Unofficial exit polls said Morales secured more than 60 percent of the vote, far higher than the 53.7 percent he won when he was elected president in December 2005. Supporters of Morales and of the main opposition governors alike took to the streets waving banners, chanting, dancing and setting off fire crackers after a peaceful vote that contrasted with violent protests earlier in the week. "I'm glad he has won, because Mr Morales is one of us, he's working class like me. I expect things to improve now, because someone from the same background as me cannot let me down," said 32-year-old computer technician Hector Gutierrez. The bitter power struggle between Morales and opposition governors has exposed deep divisions between the wealthier east of the country and the more indigenous west, and has forced Morales to put many reforms on hold. Morales approved the recall vote in an apparent bid to undermine their autonomy drives. But with Bolivia roiled by protests, and a bloc of four anti-Morales governors also surviving the recall vote, the standoff will continue unless a compromise can be negotiated. "The initial reading is that the political crisis and tension in the country is going to deepen greatly," said Franklin Pareja, professor of political science at the state-run San Andres University in La Paz. Agencies (China Daily 08/12/2008 page21) |
