Bolivian president Evo Morales claimed victory as voters approved his leftist constitution, but opposition leaders may try to block its implementation as they prepare to challenge him in December elections.
Passed with about 60 per cent support in a referendum on Sunday, the constitution aims to give Bolivia’s indigenous majority more power, lets Morales run for re-election and delivers him tighter control over the economy.
Morales took office three years ago and is popular among the poor and Aymara, Quechua, and Guarani indigenous groups that have suffered centuries of discrimination in South America’s poorest country. An Aymara Indian and former leader of coca-leaf farmers, Morales is Bolivia’s first indigenous president and followed his socialist allies, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and President Rafael Correa of Ecuador, in adopting new constitutions.
Though the new charter was popular in the Andean highlands, it failed in four of Bolivia’s nine provinces as voters in wealthier regions rejected it, exit polls said.
“What has been ratified is polarisation at the national level,” said Carlos Hugo Laruta, a columnist for the La Prensa newspaper. “So both sides must redesign their positions on implementing the constitution and December elections.”
Mr Morales has said Bolivia will need to pass about 100 laws to implement most of the reforms in the constitution, including rules for the election of Supreme Court judges in a popular vote.
To do so, he can work with the opposition, which has an edge in the Senate, or risk angering it by bypassing Congress and implementing the charter via decrees.
Opposition leaders in eastern provinces, where a European-descended elite dominates the economy, want more autonomy from the central government.
Between 55 per cent and 60 per cent of the population is indigenous in the landlocked country of about 9.2 million, where politics run along lines of race and region.
While implementing the charter, Mr Morales will also mount a run for a five-year term in December to carry out his socialist agenda. For now, he is the favourite to win, as conservatives lack a strong candidate and are internally divided.
But Mr Morales’s popularity could suffer if sales and prices for Bolivia’s natural gas exports – its main source of revenue – drop in the global economic crisis. Its biggest buyer Brazil has already trimmed purchases.
The opposition says it is gaining ground on Morales. The 60 per cent Yes vote was lower than the 67 per cent Morales won in a recall election last year. “The government won electorally, but lost politically,” Victor Hugo Cardenas, a former vice-president who may run for president in December, said yesterday.
Violent opposition protests in September killed about 20 people and forced Morales to water down constitutional changes, including land reform and his original plan to seek two extra terms in office.
While voting on the charter, Bolivians approved a cap of 12,355 acres (5,000 hectares) on the size of future large landholdings, but existing ranches will be unaffected.
The charter will eventually give the Indian majority more seats in Congress and more clout in the justice system.
It also officially recognises their pre-Columbian religions and promotes their languages. – (Reuters)