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Thursday June 29, 8:17 AMBolivians prepare for vote to rewrite constitutionLA PAZ, Bolivia (Reuters) - Bolivians go to the polls on Sunday to elect a national assembly to rewrite the constitution, a project President Evo Morales says will give more power to the country's poor indigenous majority.Constitutional reform was a major election promise of leftist Morales, who took office as the South American country's first indigenous president in January vowing to end 500 years of domination by a white elite. Sunday's vote -- which includes a referendum on greater regional autonomy -- is his first electoral test and polls suggest his party will win a big majority in the constitutional assembly. Campaigning on behalf of assembly delegates from his party, Morales, who nationalised the energy industry in May, has pushed the nationalisation of all natural resources in the gas- and mineral-rich country, without saying exactly how. He is also campaigning for a "no" vote on the regional autonomy referendum, which analysts say could put him on a collision course with the powerful pro-autonomy lobby of wealthy Santa Cruz province, an opposition stronghold. "We're not going to fight our brothers, but it's now or never for autonomy," pro-autonomy leader German Antelo told flag-waving Santa Cruz residents during a rally to back a "yes" vote. Local media said 200,000 people attended. Opposition parties have sought to exploit fears about the influence of Morales' ally, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Television ads for the rightist Podemos party, led by former President Jorge 'Tuto' Quiroga, show images of Chavez in military uniform with the words: "Why is Chavez so interested in our constitution? ... Say 'No' to Chavez." LEFT-WING AGENDA Eighty-one percent of Bolivians support Morales, according to a Mori poll in the weekly La Epoca this week, and critics fear his government will dominate the assembly and entrench a left-wing agenda in the constitution. Adolfo Franco, an official from the U.S. Agency for International Development, warned in comments published by the Miami Herald last week that the government might try to "promote potentially anti-democratic reforms." Other government proposals for constitutional reform include giving indigenous communities the right to decide how to manage their land and resources and autonomy to administer justice and local government following their traditions. It also wants to add the rainbow indigenous flag to the list of national symbols. Bolivia's constitution has undergone dozens of reforms, but this is the first time a reform assembly is to be directly elected. The 255-member assembly will sit in the city of Sucre, where Bolivian independence was declared in 1825. Constitutional reform is a key demand of the social groups that toppled two governments from 2003 to 2005 amid violence in Bolivia, which has been dominated by a European-descended elite since the Spanish arrived five centuries ago. The process is likely to be watched by indigenous groups in neighbouring Peru and Ecuador seeking similar reforms. Morales, an Aymara Indian who rose to power as the leader of the coca farmers, has said rewriting the constitution will "deliver the second liberation of the Bolivian people" and many of his supporters have high hopes. "With this president things are different," said taxi dispatcher Francisco Quispe. "This has been needed for a long time and none of the previous governments wanted to do it." |
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