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Evo Morales Wins Landslide Victory in Bolivian Presidential Elections
President Evo Morales won a landslide victory in Bolivian elections yesterday bolstering his efforts to empower the country's indigenous majority under a socialist banner.
Bolivia's President Evo Morales waves to the crowd during his re-election victory ceremony at the presidential palace in La Paz December 6, 2009. Morales claimed a landslide re-election victory on Sunday as voters backed his left-wing reforms asserting greater state control over the economy and increasing social spending on the poor. (REUTERS/David Mercado) Exit polls and an unofficial count gave the country's
first indigenous president an unassailable lead, prompting rival
candidates to concede and supporters to celebrate in the capital La Paz.
"This process of change has prevailed," Morales told a cheering throng from the balcony of the presidential palace. He said the result, following a tumultuous first term that wrought sweeping changes over the Andean country, was a mandate for further transformation.
Opponents said the charismatic Aymara leader would become more radical and polarising and usher in an authoritarian personality cult.
Based on a count of 91% of votes, the polling firm Equipos-Mori gave Morales 63% of ballots, way ahead of a crowded field of nine candidates. His Movement Toward Socialism party won control of both chambers of congress, though in the lower house it was expected to fall just short of a two-thirds majority needed for constitutional changes.
Aymara and Quechua Indians queued from early morning to vote for the former llama herder who has nationalised key sectors of the economy, boosted social spending and clashed with the United States.
Bolivia's transformation was irreversible and redressed a historic injustice, said Fidel Surco, an indigenous leader and senate candidate for Morales' Movement Toward Socialism party.
"There is no way back, this is our time, the awakening of the indigenous people. We'll keep fighting till the end. Brother Evo Morales still has lots to do, one cannot think that four years are enough after 500 years of submission and oppression."
As well as pensions and subsidies to slums and impoverished rural highlands, the government has championed indigenous languages and traditional community justice, a "refounding" of the state cemented in a constitutional overhaul earlier this year.
"The decision is for change," Morales said after voting in the central coca-growing region of Chapare.
Inequality and poverty remain extreme, and land redistribution has been cautious, but indigenous voters backed Morales, 50, as an agent of transformation, said Mario Galindo, an analyst with the CEBEM thinktank.
The three political parties that ruled Bolivia for decades were all but wiped out. Within hours of polling stations closing, rival candidates had accepted defeat.
Manfred Reyes, a former army captain and state governor, came second with 27%, and Samuel Doria Medina, a cement magnate, came third with 6%, according to exit polls.
Reyes said the president would now have no restraint in following his ally, Venezuela's Hugo Chávez, down the road towards authoritarian ruin. "What's in play in this election is democracy," he said.
Doria Medina said the government's apparent economic success masked unsustainable populism. "The only sector that has had important growth is the coca sector and the cocaine industry."
Since 2005 GDP in Bolivia, one of South America's poorest countries, has jumped from $9bn to $19bn, pushing up per capita income to $1,671. Foreign currency reserves have soared thanks partly to revenue from the nationalised energy and mining sectors. The IMF expects the economy to grow 2.8% next year, stellar by regional standards.
But efforts to tap lithium deposits and increase gas production have faltered for lack of foreign investment. Relations with Washington are toxic: the US ambassador and US anti-narcotic officials were expelled as meddlers and spies.
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20 Comments so far
Show AllVery good news indeed ...
Congratulations Evo !
BRILLIANT Evo Morales a true leader
I'm always amazed (though perhaps I shouldn't be) at the sheer gall and/or self-delusion of the powerful elites who blather on indignantly about the "loss of democracy" when their proxies lose to the true majority, the "common" people, as has just happened in Bolivia. Why is an election that doesn't favour wealth and power always dismissed or ignored by the powerful, including that self-designated defender of "democracy", the Deluded States of America?
"The US ambassador and US anti-narcotic officials were expelled as meddlers and spies." If only more nations had the courage to demand neutrality on the part of US representatives.
Some of those so-called opposition critics are bonafide Nazis and or merely their historical analogues. The same canard and calumny heaped on leftist governments wears thin though when you realize that previous governments massacred and disappeared their own people.
And note the traditional governing parties were wiped out. Some lessons for the US?
Yeah Yeah Yeah! It's great to see another true democracy flip the birdie to the US of A.
If anyone is interested in a detailed analysis of the Bolivian economy since Morales took office see: http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/bolivia-2009-12.pdf
A candle in the darkness! Congratulations to the Bolivian people on their wise choice.
Joe
You may wish to remember that there are a few other candles out there, Joe.
All of them south of the Darien Gap.
I do agree - South America is the most encouraging region of the world.
Joe
This is very good news. The people of Bolivia have won; over the power structure, whom did nothing but drain the coffers of their country, relagating the poor to a life of misery. Of course, the U.S. government came out against them. Hell, they are condoning it's own citizens to second class status and third world economy, in the future. To keep the rich in power,thier own sorry asses in Congress, selling off our manufacturing base to the highest bidder. The next time one of these multi-national assholes spout off about patriotism they should be deported. They don't care one iota about this country, just their own greedy selves.
Go EVO! Democracy's definition doesn't include the word Capitalism, as the Global Elites would like us to believe.
Nanoo
Good news and very glad for the people.
Hooray for Indigenous Power!
US out of The Americas!
If you let any of these governments get away with working for their people instead of US corporations, it might inspire others to try. You can be sure the US/CIA will do everything it can to undermine and punish Bolivia and its people, just as they are doing to Cuba.
Watch for the labeling of Morales as "Dictator for life" or Un-democratic simply because he WINS free and fair elections.
This is good for the Peoples of Bolivia.
Lets hope that the "Worlds beacon of liberty and justice" can keep its dirty little hands out of this country for a change.
A welcome tidbit of positive news, which is rare as hen's teeth
At least the Bolivians had a free and fair election, something we can only hope for.
At least the Bolivian people know where there interests lie, something we can only hope for.
At least Bolivia elected a leader that represents the vast majority of citizens, something we can only hope for.
Viva la Revolucion Bolivarense!
Viva!
About all the good news these days has come from the South.
" U.S. anti-narcotics officials were expelled as meddlers and spies". That is exactly what is now happening in Columbia, but unlike Evo,s government, they are not being expelled. The Columbian government has sold out to the U.S. The so-called war on drugs is a bunch of BS for the sheeple and dumbed down MSM watchers. It is really a war so the U.S.A. can keep their quislings in power in Columbia, because the thugs called the FARC cannot be bribed and they are a threat to U.S. interests in South America. The FARC is making millions of $ off of the Columbian drug trade which makes them a real threat to U.S. hegemony in South America. We are spending billions of $ in Columbia to build all those new military bases in order to eradicate the drug trade? More like to eradicate the FARC, Chavez and Morales!
What remains to be seen is how the portion of Bolivia that despises Evo Morales, the eastern portion centered around the city of Santa Cruz (where the majority of the natural gas deposits are) reacts. That area is a lot more mestizo and creole than the Andean regions where the Quechua and Aymara predominate. Don't be surprised if the Bolivian east soon starts making noises about succession.
A little late, aren't you?
The Bolivian east already had an illegal referendum on succession a few years ago.
Let's see if the left is cheering when Sarah Palin wins as a populist in the USA in 2012 !!!