Elections Postponed in Bolivia
October 28, 2005
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For about the last month this country has lived under the threat of an electoral postponement; the December 4 general
elections were up in the air. Today, barely an hour ago, the Bolivian political parties represented in the National
Congress were unable to reach an agreement in order to authorize elections as they had been expected to do. The
pressures coming from the right (based in the department of Santa Cruz) to obtain more seats in the new session of
congress have achieved their main goal: a climate of general uncertainty. Here's the story:
When the department of Santa Cruz requested that four new electoral districts be drawn in order for them to get four
more deputies (members of the lower house) in the next Congress, the Bolivian political class cried up to high heaven
(everyone from Evo Morales to neoliberal former president Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga): the redrawing of the electoral map in
this country could hold up elections. Late last month, the Santa Cruz leaders insisted nonetheless on pressing for their
demands, making a claim before the Constitutional Tribunal (Supreme Court) that turned out very well for them.
After that event, Congress was obligated to meet to discuss the various proposals for redistributing Bolivia's nine
departments' representation. But a month later, after debates, threats, and exchanges of accusations, there was no
agreement. In fact, today the deadline ran out for making decisions, modifying the necessary laws, and authorizing the
National Electoral Court... and it was a bust; no one did anything in order to reach an accord. For the entire week,
congressmen from all different regions were walking out of the sessions...
Yesterday, while the representatives of Cochabamba and Santa Cruz entrenched themselves in their respective regions,
there was no session in Congress. There was not one today, either, of course; not even the Movement Toward Socialism's
(MAS) representatives were in La Paz. All congressional activity was limited to a long meeting between party and
regional leaders and a few representatives from President Eduardo Rodríguez Veltzé... but they didn't get anything done.
And so, although Evo Morales accuses Tuto Quiroga and former president Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada of plotting against
democracy; although Quiroga has been defending himself; although Deputy Williams Paniagua (a friend and fellow ideologue
of Sánchez de Lozada) says that he and all his fellow Cruceños (people from Santa Cruz) are hoping for elections to go
forward as planed; although everyone complains and says that they had always warned that "the wolf was on his way," none
of them applied any pressure... Evo spoke today from the Chapare, Quiroga declined to pressure the congressmen that he
controls (which are no small number), and the right wing representatives from Santa Cruz and those from Cochabamba, who
seem to have made some kind of deal, are far away. No one was in his or her seat to defend democracy.
President Rodríguez, who spent weeks guaranteeing that elections would proceed, is doing nothing but analyzing the
situation, and has yet to show his face. His representatives, especially Presidential Delegate Jorge Lazarte, could
barely sum up the events and don't know if it will be possible to find a way out of this.
For now, the leaders of the political classthat work in Congress are still in meetings, trying to find a solution, which
could take the form of a decree to redistribute seats (if the president is up to it). Rodríguez Veltzé will speak
shortly to clarify his position...
This is a scenario full of Judases and Pilates that we will continue to report on, because the people, in the streets
and in the communities, are already beginning to show their discontent (don't forget, kind readers, that the people did
not ask for these elections during last May and June's mobilizations, but they accepted a truce in order to wait for
them)... stay with us, as the air around here is heating up...
Follow tour coverage of this new crisis here:
From somewhere in a country called América,
Luis A. Gómez
Acting Publisher
The Narco News Bulletin