[News] Bolivia: Bittersweet victory highlights obstacles for process of change

[Anti-Imperialist News]

BOLIVIA: Bittersweet victory highlights obstacles for process of change

April 10, 2010

By Frederico Fuentes

<http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/federicofuentes>Frederico 
Fuentes's ZSpace Page

(Caracas) -- Although final figures will not be 
known until April 24, the results of Bolivia's 
April 4 regional elections have ratified the 
continued advance of the "democratic and cultural 
revolution" led by the country's first indigenous President Evo Morales.

However, it also highlights some of the 
shortcomings and obstacles the process of change faces.

Initial results from the election for governors, 
mayors and representatives to municipal councils 
and departmental assemblies have confirmed the 
Morales-led Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) as 
the sole political force with strong support across the nation.

It follows the historic 64% vote to reelect 
Morales and the two-thirds majority MAS obtained 
in the Plurinational Assembly last December.

MAS was formed in the mid-1990s by key Bolivian 
indigenous and peasant organizations in order to 
create their own political instrument. Many of 
these organizations are at the heart of the 
indigenous-led revolutionary movement that 
overthrew two presidents between 2000-05, before 
electing one of their own in December 2005.

The Morales government has implemented key 
demands of the indigenous and peasant 
organizations by nationalizing gas reserves, 
allowing the people to participate in the rewrite 
of a new constitution that dramatic expands 
indigenous rights, and stimulating an increased 
sense of pride and dignity among the long-oppressed indigenous majority.

All this in the face of stiff right-wing 
opposition that, with its stronghold in the east, 
used its control over a majority of governorships 
to attack the Morales government -- climaxing 
with a failed coup attempt in September 2008.

Electoral advances

Of the nine governorships, current results show 
MAS winning in six, with a seventh too close to 
call. This is an increase from the three it won in 2005.

This means MAS has not only strengthened its hold 
on the west and centre (consolidating its hold on 
La Paz and Cochabamba after revoking previous 
opposition governors), but also further weakened 
the decomposing right-wing opposition in the east.

MAS looks set to capture the eastern department 
of Pando, and possibly Beni. The opposition has 
held onto the eastern departments of Santa Cruz 
and Tarija, but MAS's all-out campaigning in the 
east (home to much of Bolivia's natural resources 
and a sizeable white middle class) meant it 
penetrated deep into opposition heartland -- increasing its vote in the region.

MAS also won a strong presence in the 
departmental assemblies. These are the first 
elected regional bodies to have the power to 
legislate within the bounds of the regional 
autonomy outlined in the new constitution approved in January 2009.

MAS also increased the number of mayoralties it 
controls nationally to around 200-220 out of the 
337 -- up from the 101 won in the 2004 poll.

Another feature of the elections was the 
introduction -- although limited -- of 
traditional indigenous customs for selecting 
representatives from Bolivia's 36 indigenous 
nations to departmental assemblies.

Using rights enshrined in the new constitution, 
indigenous nations selected between two to five 
representatives for each departmental assembly.

Five of the 11 municipalities that voted in favor 
of indigenous autonomy in local referendums last 
December elected their own mayors and councilors 
according to traditional customs in the lead up to regional elections.

The decisions were then ratified at the ballot 
box on April 4. The other six decided to elect candidates directly.

Bittersweet victory

Highlighting MAS's impressive numerical victory, 
Morales said that elections "are like soccer, the 
goals are what matter". Yet the result was a 
bittersweet one that throws into sharp relief 
some of the internal challenges the process of change faces.

MAS's national vote was 51% -- less than the 64% 
it obtained in December and well short of the 70% 
Morales spoke of in his speech to close MAS's campaign in La Paz.

The impressive showing in the east, the result of 
both a concerted campaign and some dubious 
alliances, was dampened by the loss in Tarija, 
which sits on 80% of Bolivia's gas.

Having won the vote in Tajira in December, MAS 
was certain it could defeat the incumbent governor, a fierce foe of Morales.

Alliances formed by MAS with local elites, such 
as the MAS candidate for Santa Cruz city, a 
business owner and ex-member of the right-wing 
Podemas party, and the recent recruitment of 
ex-militants of the fascist Santa Cruz Youth Union failed to net goals.

Instead, MAS paid a political and ideological 
cost for its alliances, losing in urban poor 
areas such as Plan Tres Mil in Santa Cruz. 
Rejection of such deals led people in these areas to vote for other candidates.

In Pando, a decision to stand candidates that did 
not belong to the MAS allowed it to win the 
governorship and 10 of the 15 mayoralties. 
However, it means MAS will now have to contend 
with "MAS mayors" that came from the old traditional parties.

Most significantly, the belief that Morales' 
overwhelming popularity could be automatically 
transferred to MAS candidates, many of whom were 
imposed from above, and the disregard for 
alliances with other progressive forces or social 
movements, led to something unthinkable only a 
few months ago: the emergence of a new 
opposition, the centre-left Movement of Those Without Fear (MSM).

Within months, MAS went from having a solid 
alliance with the MSM, headed by former La Paz 
mayor Juan Del Granado, to breaking all ties with 
the MSM and accusing them of being "neoliberal", "conspirators" and "corrupt".

The special attention paid by Morales to the 
campaign for the mayor of La Paz, and the 
ferocious attack on the MSM (viewed by many MAS 
supporters as unnecessary) was not enough to 
secure victory in the capital, a MAS stronghold.

The MSM also won a surprise victory against the 
MAS in the race for the mayor of Oruro, 
confirming the trend in urban areas of voting for non-MAS candidates.

The MSM stood MAS dissidents angered by the 
imposition of non-MAS members as MAS candidates. 
This policy allowed it to win mayoralties in 
mining areas with an indigenous majority in the 
north of Potosi and even Achacachi -- a heartland 
of Aymaran indigenous radicalism where Morales scored 98% in December.

Formerly considered a party restricted to the 
middle-class areas of La Paz, the MSM now has a 
presence in more than 100 municipalities.

Discontent among MAS-aligned social movements and 
supporters led to defeats in other areas where 
Morales has near unanimous support. A newly 
created party, led by a coca growers' union 
leader and former MAS senator Lino Villca, won in 
six municipalities in the coca growing regions 
and the altiplano (high plain area) of La Paz department.

The MAS won in the combative million-strong city 
of El Alto, but its vote dropped from more than 80% to below 40%.

The surprise was the relatively unknown outsider 
Soledad Chapeton, whose vote of 30% represented a 
rejection of the impositions by local union leaders.

Dangers

La Paz based journalist Pablo Stefanoni said the 
comments of a local woman on Radio Erbol, that 
the "vote on Sunday in La Paz is a warning sign 
to the process of change", summed up the feelings of many Bolivians.

An April 7 editorial in the pro-government daily 
Cambio said the results showed "the necessity to 
strengthen the process of structural change ... 
consolidate the direct participation of the 
organised people in the definition of affairs of 
the Plurinational State and in doing so eradicate 
improvisation, internal problems and the personal 
ambitions of some militants in the process of transformation underway".

On April 6, Morales commented on the MAS's defeat 
in areas that only months ago voted 
overwhelmingly for him. Morales blamed internal 
problems and the personal ambitions of some party 
leaders "that drag with them a colonial heritage 
due to which they believes their turn has come to 
stand for an executive position".

Dionisio Condori, a leader of the powerful United 
Union Confederation of Campesino Workers of 
Bolivia, said: "Our candidates where not taken 
into consideration because some leaders fell into 
the game of removing them and imposing others who 
were not known in the municipality."

But it is not just the problem of questionable 
figures from outside the MAS being imposed as 
candidates. The MAS is dominated by the specific 
interests of the different indigenous and peasant unions that make it up.

Its role in local governments has traditionally 
been characterised by resisting neoliberal 
governments and strengthening the position of their organisations.

However, today these same unions are part of the 
governing party and these practices have often 
been replaced by inefficiency and improvisation 
rather than promotion of new participatory forms of local governance.

The challenge of converting MAS from more than a 
sum of unions into a collective force for change 
that can nurture the growth of new cadres and 
participatory forms of local democracy is more pressing than ever.

The rise of a new opposition may open up space 
for something that has been sorely lacking: an 
open public debate on how to deepen the transformation of Bolivian society.

Through such a battle of ideas, as opposed to the 
type of denunciations and unconvincing slanging 
matches seen so far, the process will be able to 
solidify and extend its support base.

In this way, it can open itself up to new sectors 
and pave the way for the kind of broad alliances 
with all sectors genuinely committed to change 
that are vital to safeguarding and deepening the process.

Raul Prada, the vice-minister for strategic state 
planning, argued this requires drawing up a 
"critical balance sheet with the grassroots, with 
our organisations, with the movements, with the 
neighbourhood committees, a balance sheet of what 
has occurred 
 and to listen to criticism.

"We need to return to the practice of something 
we have not done for some time: self-criticism 
and carrying out a deep and objective reflection."

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From: Z Net - The Spirit Of Resistance Lives
URL: 
<http://www.zcommunications.org/bolivia-bittersweet-victory-highlights-obstacles-for-process-of-change-by-frederico-fuentes>http://www.zcommunications.org/bolivia-bittersweet-victory-highlights-obstacles-for-process-of-change-by-frederico-fuentes 




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