Two referendums considered illegal by
Bolivian President Evo Morales delivered very strong majorities Sunday in
favour of more independence for the provinces of Beni and Pando, according to
an exit poll.
According to the exit poll made by Captura Consulting for the television
network PAT and the daily El Deber, the proposal for more autonomy was favoured
by 86 per cent of the voters in Beni and 85 per cent in Pando.
Turnout was thought to be a key measure of opposition to the referendum on
autonomy and of support for left-wing populist Morales.
A study by the firm Ipsos Apoyo for ATB television network said 50.1 per cent
of the voters in Pando did not cast their ballots, while in Beni 65.5 per cent
of the voters exercised their right. A turnout of at least 50 per cent was
required by law for the referendum result to be valid.
Interior Minister Alfredo Rada stressed the low turnout in Pando.
"Pyrrhic victories (in Beni, Pando and Santa Cruz) have hurt the
pro-autonomy cause that has legitimate support in several of the country's
provinces, in its attempt to impose anti-constitutional statutes at any
cost," Rada said in a press conference.
Beni Governor Ernesto Suarez, who campaigned for the proposal that lies at the
centre of the power struggle between the central government and the Andean
country's wealthier provinces, said he was surprised by the magnitude of the
win.
"We are surprised by the results. We knew we were going to win, but these
figures come as a surprise to me. But I want to wait for the official results
though," Suarez told PAT.
The main squares in Trinidad and Cobija - the capitals of Beni and Pando
respectively - were full of people who celebrated the reported triumph of the
pro-autonomy position.
There was also celebration in Santa Cruz, which already held a similar
referendum on May 4 and saw autonomy favoured by 85 per cent of the voters.
The province of Tarija is set to hold a similar vote on June 22, to become the
fourth among Bolivia's nine provinces to cast ballots on autonomy against the
president's will.
Both Beni and Pando are relatively small provinces. Some 163,000 voters in Beni were registered to cast their ballots in the referendum, while the figure was as low
as 29,000 in Pando.
Bolivian media showed footage of burning ballot boxes in both provinces, and
the mayor of the village of Yucumo, Beni, was beaten up during the referendum
in vote-related clashes with pro-Morales peasants, electoral authorities
confirmed.
However, initial reports of the death of a Morales supporter in a shootout in
the outskirts of Trinidad were denied by Beni police.
On Sunday morning, Morales played football with some of his party's legislators
on military facilities in the city of Oruro. He also visited miners in San Jose and Huanuni and was set to return to the country's administrative capital, La Paz, late Sunday.
Following the referendum in Santa Cruz last month, the Bolivian opposition
surprised the government by passing a proposal for a national recall referendum
on the president's mandate.
Morales himself had filed the proposal months earlier, and he went on to set an
August 10 date for the vote which he could reportedly win, in a very polarized
country.
Morales was elected in late 2005 to become the first indigenous president in Bolivia's history, and set out with the declared aim of improving the lot of the country's
empoverished indigenous majority.
His personal form of socialism has met with the bitter opposition of those who
stand to lose with a different distribution of wealth to favour the indigenous
population based mainly in the country's western highlands, dpa reported.
...