May 25, 2007

Abstract: (Angus Reid Global Monitor) - A vast majority of people in Bolivia are in favour of governmental policies seeking to take companies into the public sector, according to a poll by Captura Consulting SRL published in El Deber. 73.6 per cent of respondents support the current administration's nationalization drive.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - A vast majority of people in Bolivia are in favour of governmental policies seeking to take companies into the public sector, according to a poll by Captura Consulting SRL published in El Deber. 73.6 per cent of respondents support the current administration's nationalization drive.

Evo 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.

Since taking office, Morales has started a process to nationalize Bolivia's hydrocarbon and mining industries while trying to maintain ties with international companies operating in the country. In early April, the government announced it is planning a takeover of Bolivia's telecommunications industry.

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."

On May 17, hydrocarbons minister Carlos Villegas announced that Bolivia will hire an international audit firm to assess the value of partially-private oil and transportation firms in which the government plans to hold a majority stake. Villegas declared: "We are going to comply with the nationalization decree, which says that (state-owned) YPFB will assume control of at least 50 per cent plus one share of those companies."

Polling Data

Do you support or oppose the current government's nationalization policies?

Support	73.6%
Oppose	17.9%
Not sure	8.4%

Source: Captura Consulting SRL / El Deber
Methodology: Interviews with 1,260 adult Bolivians in La Paz, El Alto, Santa Cruz and Cochabamba, conducted from May 11 to May 13, 2007. Margin of error is 2.8 per cent.