BOLIVIA:BOLIVIA'S PRESIDENT Evo Morales will attempt to revive his faltering efforts to transform South America's poorest country by gambling his presidency in a recall vote, writes Rory Carroll.
Mr Morales agreed last Thursday to hold a nationwide recall referendum within three months, in a risky attempt to break the political deadlock over his reforms. "If we politicians can't agree, it's best that the population decide our destiny," he said in a nationally televised address.
The measure will also require the vice-president and Bolivia's nine state governors to face the voters, a crucial test for the government and the opposition in a bitterly polarised country.
The recall referendum requires the political leaders to win more votes and a greater percentage of support than they did in the 2005 general election. Failure to do so will oblige them to run again in a new election.
Mr Morales, the country's first indigenous president, came to power with 53.7 per cent of the vote, which by Bolivian standards is a landslide.
He used the victory to champion the country's long-excluded indigenous majority, based in the western highlands. Promoting socialist policies, he then forged links with Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez.
But opponents based in the relatively prosperous and lighter-skinned eastern lowlands have managed to put a brake on most of his reforms, claiming that they are divisive and ruinous.
Last Sunday the opposition stronghold of Santa Cruz province voted for autonomy and another three provinces are due to follow suit next month.
La Paz has declared these moves illegal, fearing they will further delay its attempt to "refound" the nation of 11 million people.
Opinion polls put Mr Morales's popularity at some 50 per cent, suggesting he has a good chance of winning a referendum and regaining the political initiative. He may also be able to pick off some opposition governors.
The president proposed a referendum last December and won the approval of parliament's lower house. The proposal stalled in the opposition-controlled senate until Thursday, when it was unexpectedly revived and then approved. The opposition appeared to calculate that two years of deadlock had weakened its once-mighty foe.
Mr Morales said he would sign the measure the moment it reached his desk. The state governors did not respond, but most have said they would also accept the challenge. - (Guardian service)