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Support for Morales’s Bid Increases in Bolivia
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Evo Morales will most likely secure his re-election as president of Bolivia in a vote next month, according to a poll by Equipos MORI. 52 per cent of respondents would support Morales in the December presidential ballot, up five points since September.
Former Cochabamba mayor Manfred Reyes Villa of the New Republican Force (NFR) is a distant second with 18 per cent, followed by Samuel Doria Medina of the National Unity Front (FUN) with nine per cent. 17 per cent of respondents remain undecided or will cast a blank ballot.
In 2005, 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 was officially sworn in as Bolivia’s first indigenous head of state in January 2006.
Morales’s tenure has been focused on "re-founding" Bolivia through a new constitution. The new document was ratified last January.
The revamped constitution includes a bill of rights and an entire chapter dedicated to Bolivia’s 36 indigenous nations. It also put the economy in the hands of the state, limited landholdings, redistributed revenues from gas fields in the eastern lowlands to the country’s poorer areas, and included a compromise that will allow the current president to seek only one additional five-year term.
Under the terms of the new body of law, a general election has been scheduled for Dec. 6. Morales is seeking re-election.
On Nov. 25, Doria Medina proposed an emergency summit of opposition candidates to discuss ways to "defend the vote and avert the risk of electoral fraud."
Polling Data
Who would you vote for in the presidential election?
|
|
Nov. 8 |
Sept. 28 |
|
Evo Morales |
52% |
47% |
|
Manfred Reyes Villa |
18% |
16% |
|
Samuel Doria Medina |
9% |
8% |
|
Other candidates |
4% |
4% |
|
Undecided / Blank vote |
17% |
25% |
Source: Equipos MORI
Methodology: Interviews with 1,007 Bolivian adults, conducted Oct. 31 to Nov. 8, 2009. Margin of error is 3.1 per cent.