Evo Morales WINS, The Bird Shit War & Bush's Nightmare | 24 comments (24 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

I had posted a diary, which I am integrating into this thread (and will move comments over too):

From BBC World Online, it appears that Bolivian socialist and indigenous leader Evo Morales may have won the presidency outright: Morales 'certain of Bolivia win'

Bolivian socialist leader Evo Morales has won enough votes in the country's presidential election to be installed as leader, electoral officials say.
The country's electoral court confirmed that with almost two-thirds of the votes counted, Mr Morales' share was enough for him to win.

If this is true, it is exciting news. But now the real work starts...what will Morales need to do to have success?

"Once in awhile we get shown the light, in the strangest of places, if we look at it right" - Hunter/Garcia

by whataboutbob on Wed Dec 21st, 2005 at 03:17:26 PM EST

Re: Evo Morales WINS, (none / 1)

Moving comments over--

from kcurie:

I have also read that the opposition , in case Morales does not reach a 50% will not try to beat him in the parlament..
So it seems we are headed for a MOrales presidency.
I expect Repsol will start talking with him very soon.
High access for high royalties will be the request from Morales. We know here the people in charge now of Repsol... Repsol will accept it with no big deal... I hope that Repsol accepting will lead the other companies to accept it too.

A pleasure

from whataboutbob:

I have read earlier statements from Morales that he will nationalize oil if the companies don't give over a lot of money...and the pressure will be from the indigenous people to nationalize oil and gas, no matter what.

from DoDo:

BTW, can someone, especially someone Spanish-speaking who can read through the official election site!, please explain the Bolivian election system? (need link replaced) It appears the vote on President is also used as a vote on proportionally distributed party seats (or vice versa), while additionally there are directly elcted representatives.

"Once in awhile we get shown the light, in the strangest of places, if we look at it right" - Hunter/Garcia

by whataboutbob on Wed Dec 21st, 2005 at 03:21:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Evo Morales WINS, (none / 0)

Any Spanish-speakers around?

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Wed Dec 21st, 2005 at 06:42:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Evo Morales WINS, (none / 0)

Just give me the link to the page.

WaB, I use Firefox and if I right-click on a hyperlink I can "copy link location" (which is the URL you need for the HREF tag).

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Dec 21st, 2005 at 06:52:30 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Evo Morales WINS, (none / 0)

Same link as in my UPDATE at the top of the diary: it goes to the Bolivian elections site, where - if my minimal Latin/French was enough - it seems there are election rules too.

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Wed Dec 21st, 2005 at 07:10:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Evo Morales WINS, (none / 1)

Check out the actas digitalizadas (scanned vote records) link at the bottom of the left-hand-side menu bar. The Bolivians are light-years ahead of everyone else as far as I can tell in terms of vote count transparency.

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Dec 21st, 2005 at 07:24:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Evo Morales WINS, (none / 1)

Bolivian National Electoral Court: FAQ - General Election 2005 (in Spanish)

When will the General Election be held?
On Sunday 18 December 2005.
What will be elected?
President, Vicepresident, Senators and Representatives.
How will the President and Vicepresident be elected?
The President and Vicepresident will be elected by universal, direct and secret ballot. If no candidate attains an absolute majority of the votes, that is, 50% plus one vote, the National Congress will choose the President and Vicepresident among the two highest vote-getters.
How many Senators will be elected, and how?
Three senators will be elected from each Department by simple majority. Two senators will correspond to the winning formula [sic] in the Department, and one to the runner-up formula.
How many representatives will be elected, and how?
130 representatives will be elected by universal, direct and secret ballot. 68 will be elected in single-seat districts by first-past-the-post, and 62 in multi-seat districts by the representative [sic] system.
How long are the terms of office?
President, Vicepresident, Senators and Representatives will be elected for a period of 5 years.
When will a new president take office?
The nee Constitutional President of the Republic will take office on 22 January 2006.
When can new voters register?
Inscription in the Electoral Register for the 2005 General Election will be open on Monday 15 August and will close on Monday 5 September. The following must be registered: those turning 18 until September 4, inclusive; people who did not vote for any reason in the 2004 Municipal Elections, as they will have been removed from the Register; and people who have changed their residence.

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Dec 21st, 2005 at 07:41:14 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Parliament (none / 0)

Ah, many thanks, but now I have to ask you to find where the party list votes ("Diputados Plurinominales") are truly displayed... When I click "Resultados nacionales", there is only one set of numbers - which must be the vote for President. When I click "Resultados departamentales", there is again only one set of numbers, and from the one department where the final result has been called (Cochabamba), it is clear these are the votes for Senators.

Now, the results for those representatives that I could find:

Senators (in "Resultados departamentales"): here is an incredible number of empty votes (25.2%). in five departments there is a MAS landslide, but in the four others PODEMOS won similarly, in two of these MAS was only third - so I'd predict 13-12 or vice vera for PODEMOS and MAS, and 1-1 for two others (one left one right) - razor-thin decision of majority.

FPTP-elected MPs: this is kind of a mystery, for there are 70, not 68 election districts in the nine departments - I counted 42 for MAS, 2 for centre-left MNR, 24 for right-wing PODEMOS and 1 for also right-wing UN, and one without information (Chuquisaca-6).

But any way I look at it, with the proportional votes added in, MAS must have something like 75 MPs out of 130.

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Thu Dec 22nd, 2005 at 06:47:57 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Parliament (none / 0)

Chuquisaca-6 went for PODEMOS, so from left to right, it's now 42:2:25:1 direct mandates.

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Thu Dec 22nd, 2005 at 11:24:09 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Evo Morales WINS, The Bird Shit War & Bush's Nightmare | 24 comments (24 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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