Bolivians approve new constitution
Article published: Thursday, January 29th 2009
Last month Bolivians voted for a new constitution promoted by the country’s left-wing president Evo Morales. But, asks Jim Shultz, what practical effect will the new Magna Carta have, and how it will impact on the combative arena of Bolivian politics?
The national poll was an odd one in Bolivia. Except for the final days, there was almost no evidence of a campaign in the streets. But the television airwaves were carpeted with ads from both sides, including a spot from religious conservatives featuring side-by-side photos of Morales and Jesus, and asking, which side are you on?
The proposal that was approved with 60 per cent of the vote on 25 January was a watered-down version of the one approved by a Morales-dominated national Constituent Assembly more than a year ago. Following political violence in September, a new round of negotiations produced 100 different compromise amendments.
The constitution aims to establish indigenous rights, redistribute land to the poor, and return the nations natural resources to public control. Key among its provisions are:
Presidential Reelection: Morales and his backers originally wanted no limits on presidential reelection (prohibited entirely under the old constitution) but settled on the chance to run for one second term.
Indigenous Rights: In Latin Americas most indigenous nation the new constitution formally recognizes the countrys three dozen indigenous populations and provides for some new direct forms of indigenous representation in the Bolivian Congress.
Land Reform: This was going to be the ‘big enchilada’ of constitutional reform, or one of them. The large land tracks of the wealthy were going to be divided up and handed out to campesinos who had none. Under the compromise amendments huge tracts of land in some form of production are now exempt, which limits significantly the landholdings that will be affected.
Gas and Oil: The Morales approach to gas and oil has never been confiscatory, despite foreign claims otherwise. The language won by Morales adversaries basically continues the Presidents policy of ‘renegotiation,’ not ‘nationalization’.
Bolivian elections tend to be like earthquakes, sometimes as defined for the aftershocks as the quake itself. In the aftermath of the vote Morales called on his adversaries to respect the outcome and cooperate in the new constitutions implementation. Regional opponents in Santa Cruz, where the majority voted against the plan, sent mixed signals, leaving open the possibility of renewed conflicts like those which took more than a dozen lives in September.
The real aftershock of last months vote may be one with a moderating influence on the country’s politics. As a result of the constitutions approval, Bolivia will return to the polls once again in December in new presidential elections. That means that opposition to Morales will no longer be focused in the hands of the rancorous regional governors, whose hot rhetoric aims to fan their local bases. It will shift to candidates seeking a national political base, including former President Carlos Mesa.
The new constitution mustered just over 50 per cent in Bolivias urban areas, but passed by more than 80 per cent in the rural areas that are Morales deeply loyal base. Bolivian politics in 2009 will be about rivals like Mesa trying to cut into that base. It will be a very uphill climb.
Bolivian life in 2009, however, will likely be defined less by politics and a new constitution than by declining prices for oil and gas the countrys chief export and the impact of the global economic crisis. In the rural community where I live outside of Cochabamba there is little talk of a the new constitution, even though people here voted for it in large numbers. Attention remains on the sky and whether the summer rains will continue to fall on the tall green corn plants that look upward with thirst.
Jim Shultz is executive director of the Democracy Center in Cochabamba, Bolivia (www.democracyctr.org) and co-editor of the recently published Dignity and Defiance, Stories from Bolivia’s Challenge to Globalization (Merlin Press).
More: News
Comments
No comments found
The comments are closed.
