Posted on 12/18/2005 4:09:33 PM PST by Alter Kaker
COCHABAMBA, Bolivia - Bolivia's Socialist presidential candidate Evo Morales, who has promised to become Washington's "nightmare," held an unexpectedly strong lead over his conservative rival in Sunday's election, according to two independent exit polls.
The wide margin means Morales, a coca farmer who has said he will end a U.S.-backed anti-drug campaign aimed at eradicating the crop used to make cocaine, will likely be declared president in January.
"If (the U.S.) wants relations, welcome," Morales said after voting, holding a news conference where piles of coca leaves were spread atop a Bolivian flag. "But no to a relationship of submission."
Morales had 45 percent of the vote and former President Jorge Quiroga had 33 percent in an Equipso Mori poll. A second poll by the private Ipsos Captura organization showed Morales with a slightly narrower lead of 44.5 percent to 34 percent for Quiroga. Minor candidates were getting the rest.
If Morales fails to win more than 50 percent of the popular vote, Bolivia's newly elected congress must decide the presidency — a parliamentary process that would involve some coalition building and likely be a moderating influence on Morales.
Officials reported that voting went peacefully as the polls closed. Official returns were expected to arrive hours later.
There were some accusations of voters being fraudulently turned away at polls in Santa Cruz and Cochabamba, but national electoral court spokesman Salvador Romero said there had been no confirmed irregularities, and that the people turned away apparently had not voted in last year's municipal elections, as required by law.
The winner starts a five-year term on Jan. 22 as Bolivia's fourth president since August 2002.
Morales, 46, has promised to reverse years of sometimes violent U.S.-backed efforts to eradicate coca fields. Bolivia is the world's third-largest grower of coca, a plant that has traditional, legal uses among the country's Indians but also is used to make cocaine.
At his news conference, Morales said he wanted "bilateral relations so we can look for solutions and accords."
The Aymara Indian street activist also referred to his status as a symbol for many of Bolivia's long-downtrodden Indians, a majority in this country of 8.5 million people.
"I am the candidate of those despised in Bolivian history, the candidate of the most disdained, discriminated against," he said after working through a crowd of admirers — some of whom rushed forward to kiss him — before voting at a decrepit basketball court in the village school.
He compared the struggle of his Movement Toward Socialism party to those of Indian leaders who fought Spanish conquerers, as well as to the independence hero Simon Bolivar and socialist icon Che Guevara.
Voting later in the capital of La Paz, Quiroga, 45, said he would respect the decision of lawmakers and hoped that the congressional process would not lead to the sort of crippling street protests Morales had led in the past.
Without mentioning Morales by name, Quiroga added: "What one has to avoid is that one of the sides tries to air its differences through aggression, through sticks and stones. That is not the way we do things. We advance with proposals, with ideas and programs."
Quiroga served as president from 2001 to 2002 after then-President Hugo Banzer fell ill. He has said he would sell Bolivia's vast natural gas reserves at higher prices and improve infrastructure, education and health care.
In the event of a second round, the newly elected congress will choose the president between the top two vote-getters in mid-January.
In the five presidential elections since 1985, congress has passed over the first place candidate twice. Parties usually bargain to get the votes needed to win — a factor that could make a kingmaker of the centrist third-place candidate, Samuel Doria Medina. He has said he would support the first-place candidate if he wins by at least 5 percentage points.
Hundreds of international monitors, including a group from the Organization of American States, made it one of the mostly closely watched elections in the country's history, and Sunday's voting was conducted under heavy police guard.
Bolivians also were deciding their vice president, all 27 Senate seats, 130 House seats and all nine governorships.
Many Indians blame the country's free-market policies for enriching white elite at the expense of the majority poor.
Morales counts Cuba's Fidel Castro and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez among his friends, along with leftists in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay who have gained power at the ballot box this decade.
The winner will succeed caretaker President Eduardo Rodriguez, a Supreme Court justice appointed by Congress on June 8, two days after street protests ended the 18-month administration of Carlos Mesa.
___
Associated Press Writer Bill Cormier in La Paz contributed to this report.
No argument there.
The United States has no right to tell another country what it can or cannot do with it's national product.
But the US has the right to tell them to keep it out of our country, no?
it's innane...war...
it's national product
_______________________________________________
First the important stuff of your post. It is its not it's for the possesive use of the pronoun.
As for the rest of the gibberish...go fly a kite.
I might not be the most perfect grammer student but at least I make more sense than you do. If you want to question my reasoning than bring it on but personal attacks don't work with me.
I wonder how much money George Soras has paid for this candidate?
Given the following, the winner may not last too long.
The winner starts a five-year term on Jan. 22 as Bolivia's fourth president since August 2002.
"Morales has said that Bolivia should collect reparations from Spain for colonialism. "
They also want sothern Peru and northern Chile back. Ain't gonna happen.
Hate to say it, but it's working very publicly for Chavez, and nothing's happened to him. Castro's been doing it for decades. It's the essense of machismo - thumbing their nose at the biggest guy in the neighborhood.
Why wouldn't others adopt the approach?
Are we asleep?
You're missing a comma.
"Arguments to the contrary = typical libertarian claptrap. "
I get it now. So the provider of the damaging substance is the one at fault, not the user. Guess I'll just go buy another pack of smokes.
Then Senor Morales can kiss goodbye that $180 million a year we send to Bolivia and see how his socialist workers paradise turns out.
Anyone - meaning you - who cannot distinguish between it's and its cannot hope to influence any argument.
Get the basics out of the way and maybe the thinking processes will catch up. Somehow I doubt it.
A fact that is true and astounding; beautiful countries down there rich with natural resources. Somehow our country has been very blessed; you really appreciate it when you look at how the rest of the world has languished and in many cases gone backwards.
Only problem with this is that while these people think that socialism will bring prosperity, they'll soon find out that this isn't the case. Then anyone there with enough cash to get up through Central America and over the Rio Grande is going to be in the United States. Some of them will of course be productive members of society, but a lot won't be.
We need to have some sort of immigration reform, mainly because this crap seems to be happening more and more to the south of us. I'm probably not a "normal" freeper in my beliefs here: I'd favor an expanded legal immigration but much stronger enforcement against illegal immigration. For legal immigrants, I'd say let them in if they'll be productive within our system (i.e., pay taxes, not collect welfare, work in a legal enterprise, etc and not demand that government services be offered to them, much less in their native language). Don't let the moochers in.
Both... and they don't have a God-given right to export their product to our country. Enjoy your smokes; I also resent paying higher insurance rates for people who abuse their bodies with legal substances.
I suppose the Columbian Drug Lords, the MS13, etc., will all move into Bolivia where they will receive the same protection they're receiving from Chavez.
Chavez has been grooming and financing this guy for a couple of years now. Buckle your seatbelts folks... its going to be a bumpy ride.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.