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Despotic Evo Tarnishes Bolivian Campaign
November 28, 2009
By refusing to take part in a debate, the Bolivian president has behaved like the "oppressors" he once despised.
Abstract: Mario Canseco - The outcome of next month’s presidential election in Bolivia appears certain. Every voting intention poll released in the past four weeks places incumbent Evo Morales with the support of more than 50 per cent of respondents, and that is before factoring out the undecided. It would appear that the candidate from the Movement to Socialism (MAS) will actually be closer to the 60 per cent mark, effectively earning a five-year term in office.
Mario Canseco - The outcome of next month’s presidential election in Bolivia appears certain. Every voting intention poll released in the past four weeks places incumbent Evo Morales with the support of more than 50 per cent of respondents, and that is before factoring out the undecided. It would appear that the candidate from the Movement to Socialism (MAS) will actually be closer to the 60 per cent mark, effectively earning a five-year term in office.
Morales remains remarkably popular after almost three years at the helm. His move to create a new constitution was ultimately successful, despite several false starts. The new body of law, meant in the president’s words to "re-found" Bolivia, included a series of articles that addressed long-standing inequalities. It also limited landholdings and called for the redistribution of revenues from energy exploration to the poor.
Bolivians have reacted positively to these developments. None of the incumbent’s rivals have come close to matching Morales. Former Cochabamba mayor Manfred Reyes Villa of the New Republican Force (NFR) will probably finish a distant second, with Samuel Doria Medina of the National Unity Front and Potosí mayor René Joaquino garnering even fewer votes.
Other possible contenders, most notably former president Jorge Quiroga, decided not to launch a bid this year. It is clear that challenging the current head of state is a losing proposition. Earlier this year, a survey by Equipos MORI asked Bolivians to rate their presidents since the return of democracy in late 1982. Morales was chosen by 41 per cent of respondents, with Víctor Paz—who ran for president eight times since the late 1940s and served four terms, the last in the late 1980s—a distant second.
Still, this year’s campaign could have been more interesting and engaging. In early October, Bolivian journalists and media outlets began to discuss the possibility of holding a presidential debate. The idea was quickly embraced by the opposition contenders, most notably Reyes Villa who claimed that the country deserved to know the incumbent’s "vision for the country."
Morales and his campaign team impolitely declined to take part in a public meeting. Earlier this month, MAS spokesman Jorge Silva disparaged the debate as "unnecessary" because most people were already supporting Morales.
The MAS team is quick to cite voting intention surveys, while ignoring the polls that deal with campaign issues. Equipos MORI reported that almost three-in-four Bolivians want a presidential debate to take place this year.
For the past few months, Morales has also been embroiled in a public spat with Bolivian journalists. In May, he referred to the country’s media as "a flock of chickens" for the apparently disorganized fashion in which press conferences featuring the president are held.
At this point, it seems clear that Morales will win the election, perhaps with the largest mandate in the history of the South American country. However, some observers expected the president to behave in a different fashion with his rivals and the media. By refusing to debate his vision with other contenders, and picking a fight with reporters, Morales is beginning to sound like the autocratic and conceited presidents he once despised.