Bolivia’s Morales Survives Recall, But Divisions Remain

On Sunday, August 10, Bolivia overwhelmingly voted to keep President Evo Morales in power, with unofficial results giving him the support of 60 percent of the population. That number tops the 54 percent Morales won in the December 2005 election.

“What the Bolivian people have expressed with their votes today is the consolidation of the process of change,” Morales said. “We are here to keep advancing in the recovery of our natural resources, the consolidation of nationalization, and the state takeover of companies.”

The recall vote tested the national support for the president, vice president and eight of the country’s nine state governors. Three of the governors lost the vote, two of whom were opponents of Morales.

The referendum pitted the socialist president Morales against four governors from affluent eastern states who have resisted Morales’s attempts to nationalize the country’s industries and redistribute resources to the poorer population, favoring instead more regional autonomy. Morales garners most of his support from the indigenous Amerindian population of the country’s western high planes, The Economist explains. While the results of the recall appeared to re-assert majority support for Morales, they were not a rebuke to the provincial governors either. In fact, the governor of Santa Cruz, one of the leading opponents of the Morales, retained his seat by about 70 percent of the vote, more than Morales’s margin of victory.

Opponents of Morales made their message clear in the weeks preceding the recall. Last week, the Santa Cruz mayor called for the military to overthrow Morales, and protesters have disrupted the president’s travel schedule by blockading airports.

Earlier this year, the Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando and Tarija all voted in favor of autonomy in referendums considered illegitimate by the central government.

Nevertheless, with the victory, The Economist predicts that “Mr. Morales is now likely to call—and probably win—a separate referendum on a new constitution that would increase the role of the state in the economy, strengthen the powers of the president, weaken the judiciary and give some indigenous communities greater autonomy.”