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Support for Morales Drops Slighlty in Bolivia
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Fewer Bolivians are satisfied with Evo Morales, according to a poll by Ipsos Apoyo Opinión y Mercado. 61 per cent of respondents approve of their president's performance, down four points since May.
Morales—an indigenous leader and former coca-leaf farmer—won the December 2005 presidential election as the candidate for the Movement to Socialism (MAS), with 53.7 per cent of the vote. He officially took over as Bolivia's head of state in January 2006.
In August 2006, the National Constituent Assembly, tasked with re-writing Bolivia's constitution, held its first session. The assembly can sit for one year, and its proposed body of law must be approved by two-thirds of the 255 lawmakers, and then ratified in a nationwide referendum. When the Constituent Assembly was sworn in, Morales declared: "We are not talking about a simple constitutional reform, we are talking about refounding Bolivia."
Earlier this month, regional authorities in Tarija—where 85 per cent of Bolivia's natural gas reserves are located—threatened to pass a statute to declare autonomy. Deputy interior minister Rubén Gamarra expressed dissatisfaction, saying, "Tarija's inhabitants are essentially Bolivian, but some of their politicians are lousy patriots, and think they can create satellite republics. This is something we cannot allow."
Polling Data
Do you approve or disapprove of Evo Morales' performance as president?
Jul. 2007 | Jun. 2007 | May 2007 | |
Approve | 61% | 63% | 65% |
Disapprove | 34% | 32% | 31% |
Source: Ipsos Apoyo, Opinión y Mercado
Methodology: Interviews with 1,019 Bolivian adults in La Paz, El Alto, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz, conducted from Jul. 9 to Jul. 16, 2007. Margin of error is 3.1 per cent.