Bolivian Recall Result Deepens Political Divide
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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Bolivian voters deepened a political divide between President Morales and pro-autonomy regional governors, handing victories to both sides in a recall referendum Sunday.
Mr. Morales won support from 61% of the electorate with 53% of polling stations reporting, the national electoral court reported. Governors of the four regions chafing at central government rule — the gas producing centers Tarija and Santa Cruz, and sparsely populated Beni and Pando — also got approval from more than half their states’ voters to stay in office.
“This hasn’t resolved anything,” the director of Western Hemisphere studies at the Johns Hopkins University’s School for Advanced International Studies, Riordan Roett, said. “What is getting set up here is a very serious confrontation.”
Mr. Morales, 48, approved the referendum in May as a way to help build momentum for his stalled effort to pass a new constitution by making possible a recall of the governors who have lined up against him. The draft document, which still needs to be passed in a separate referendum, enshrines state control over natural resources, limits landholdings and allows Mr. Morales to run for re-election.
