Bolivia voting on new constitution that recognizes and protects Indigenous rights
Unofficial count shows voters favour new constitution in Bolivia
January 25, 2009 - The Associated Press
Election officials count ballots at a polling centre in Santa Cruz, Bolivia on Sunday. (Martin Mejia/AP Photo)A new Bolivian constitution granting greater power to the country's indigenous majority was approved Sunday by 57 per cent of voters in a referendum, according to an unofficial quick count of votes.
The count, by a private polling firm, showed the proposed charter of President Evo Morales won by 56.8 per cent to 43.2 per cent with more than 90 per cent of precincts reporting.
Yet to be counted were some ballots in pro-Morales rural areas.
The unofficial count results on Sunday were backed by exit polls done by two Bolivian television stations that reported support for the new constitution at 60 per cent or slightly higher.
Early official returns from the referendum also indicated a wide margin of voters favoured the new constitution, which would limit land ownership.
New charter will 'decolonize' Bolivia
Morales, recognized as Bolivia's first aboriginal president, said the charter will "decolonize" Latin America's poorest country by recovering indigenous values lost under centuries of oppression dating back to the Spanish conquest.
Bolivia's Aymara, Quechua, Guarani and dozens of other indigenous groups only won the right to vote in 1952, when a revolution broke up the large haciendas on which they had lived as peons for generations.
"The poorest people are the majority. The people with money are only a tiny few. That's what you have to consider," Eloy Huanca said outside a polling place in El Alto, a sprawling satellite city of La Paz, the country's administrative capital. "They ran things before, and now it's our turn."
Opposition leaders warned the constitution does not reflect Bolivia's growing urban population, which mixes indigenous blood and tradition with a new Western identity, and could leave non-aboriginal Bolivians out of the picture.
"People will go to vote for the possibility of dreaming for a better country, but a country for all of us," said Ruben Costas, opposition governor of the eastern state of Santa Cruz. "We should all be part of this change."
Sunday's vote went peacefully, a relief for a nation where political tensions have recently turned deadly. In 2007, three college students were killed in anti-government riots, and 16 mostly indigenous Morales supporters were slain last September when rioters seized government buildings to block a vote on the proposed constitution. The opposition governor of Pando state, where the riots took place, was accused of complicity in the killings.
New Congress seats for indigenous groups
The proposed new constitution would create a new Congress with seats reserved for Bolivia's smaller indigenous groups and would eliminate any mention of the Roman Catholic Church, instead recognizing and honouring the Andean earth deity, Pachamama.
The document calls for a general election in December in which Morales could run for a second, consecutive five-year term (he was first elected in December 2005). The current constitution permits two terms, but not consecutively.
At the heart of the proposed constitution is a provision granting autonomy for 36 indigenous "nations" and several opposition-controlled eastern states. But both are given a vaguely defined "equal rank" that fails to resolve their rival claims over open land in Bolivia's fertile eastern lowlands, whose large agribusiness interests and valuable gas reserves drive much of the country's economy.
With an eye to redistributing territory in the region, the constitution also limits future land holdings to either 5,000 or 10,000 hectares, depending which voters choose. Current landholders are exempt from the cap — a nod to the east's powerful cattle and soy industries, which fiercely oppose the proposal.
Morales, an Aymara aboriginal, has allied himself closely with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in what they call "21st century socialism."
Elected three years ago on a pledge to nationalize Bolivia's natural gas industry, Morales has increased the state's presence throughout the economy and expanded benefits for the poor. He has used his first presidential term to effectively nationalize much of the nation's petroleum and mineral wealth — often to the detriment and against the dissent of foreign corporations and Bolivia's old-guard, wealthy elites.
Sharing Chavez's anti-U.S. sentiment, he has also booted Bolivia's U.S. ambassador and Drug Enforcement Administration agents after claiming they had conspired against his government last year. Washington has denied the allegations.
Morales's reforms remain widely popular, winning him 67 per cent support in an August recall referendum. But his biggest project nearly failed in 2006 when the assembly convened to rewrite the constitution broke apart along largely racial lines.
In an October deal, Congress approved holding the constitutional referendum only after Morales agreed to seek one more term instead of two.
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Bolivians vote on Indian rights - Bolivia's President Evo Morales is likely to see his reforms approved
Bolivians are voting in a referendum on a new constitution that President Evo Morales says will empower the country's indigenous majority.
The changes also include strengthening state control of Bolivia's natural resources, and no longer recognising Catholicism as the official religion.
The constitution is widely expected to be approved.
Mr Morales, an Aymara Indian, has pursued political reform but has met fierce resistance from some sectors.
Opponents concentrated in Bolivia's eastern provinces, which hold rich gas deposits, argue that the new constitution would create two classes of citizenship - putting indigenous people ahead of others.
The wrangling has spilled over into, at times, deadly violence.
At least 30 peasant farmers were ambushed and killed on their way home from a pro-government rally in a northern region in September.
President Morales has said the new constitution will pave the way for correcting the historic inequalities of Bolivian society, where the economic elite is largely of European descent.
The new constitution will give the indigenous community a chance to have a greater say in what happens to their country's natural resources.
Crucial concessions
Bolivia's Congress approved the referendum in October but only after Mr Morales agreed to make a number of concessions.
Crucially, this included an agreement by Mr Morales to seek only one more five-year term. If re-elected, he would have to leave office in 2014.
The new constitution also includes a bill of rights, including a chapter dedicated to Bolivia's 36 indigenous peoples.
It increases state control over the economy, limits the size of big land holdings and redistributes revenues from the important gas fields in the east to poorer parts of the nation.
Indigenous people would be granted autonomy over their traditional lands and a "priority" share of the revenue from natural resources. But many of the areas where natural resources are found are governed by the opposition and would also be granted greater autonomy.
Analysts say it remains unclear how some of the constitution's articles can be reconciled.
The autonomy votes have raised the political temperature
So although a Yes vote is widely expected, there is likely to be continued opposition to the constitution as it goes through parliament, says the BBC's Candace Piette in La Paz.
The referendum will be followed by elections for president, vice-president and Congress in December.