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2009 Bolivia Election Review
Election season is over in Bolivia with Evo Morales very securely still in power for the next presidential term. Here is a review of the election process there, hopefully it gives you a context to look at the ongoing developments within Bolivia and between Bolivia and the international community.
2009 Bolivia Elections – Election Day
With the campaigns last fiestas on Thursday evening, La Paz settled down to be pretty quiet. And today has been quiter still. By law, no cars or buses can be on the roads, so La Paz is experiencing once in five years´clean air, and I´m guessing a lot of people over-slept this morning without the honking horns and rumbling engines rolling by their windows.
Manfred’s Final Rally
Yesterday was the final campaign event for Manfred Reyes Villa, candidate for the PPB party for president of Bolivia. It started off with various PPB legislative candidates staked out along the Prado, playing music, dancing, handing out flyers and generally having a good time.
Final days of the campaigns
Most of the activity today (aside from the day’s protest – this one about the location of an artisan’s Christmas market) was at the Corte Departamental Electoral where people from all over the department of La Paz (a much larger area than just the city of La Paz) were registering to vote.
Side Trip – Wrestling Cholitas
Original photography? No. But it was great fun and I snapped a few pictures. Plus, this shot makes for a fun desktop wallpaper.
Cochabamba II
Here are a few more street shots from Cochabamba. MAS has the city covered with its blue and white flags, and Evo Morales has similar support here. When I asked one resident what it was he liked about Morales, he replied that he was “for the people”.
Cochabamba
I’m in Cochabamba now, which means I’m back to a more traditional Bolivian area, or stereotypical depending on which way you like to spin it. Either way, it looks like Evo Morales and MAS has much stronger support here than Santa Cruz (I imagine he has stronger support almost anyplace outside of Santa Cruz). These photos are from a small rally largely composed of handicapped Cochabambinos in support of MAS, Evo and Dr. Gonzalo Alfaro, a congressional candidate for district C-24.
Race for the Legislature II
Continuing with the subject from yesterday regarding the parallel race for the general election’s legislative seats, these shots are of Alfonso Román running for district C-54, also in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. I came across him while riding the micro bus and he was in between two lanes of traffic handing out campaign fliers.
Santa Cruz – the Race for the Legislature
There is more to the election on December 6 than just the Presidency – the new constitution passed in January also set out rules for a fresh legislative system. That means that the second part of a MAS (movimiento al socialismo) strategy for political dominance is to maintain a 2/3 majority in the legislature. And in this area, MAS – and Morales – can’t be nearly as confident as they can be with the Presidency.