[News] Bolivia: Bittersweet victory highlights obstacles for process of change
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Sat Apr 10 12:12:03 EDT 2010
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."
----------
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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