Well, that was a miscalculation. We decided to go to a tiny town called Villa Tunari buried deep in the Bolivian rainforest for election day so we would be far away from any ensuing chaos. Who could´ve guess that Evo Morales, the controversial but leading candidate for president would choose the very same tiny town to cast his vote. (Unfortunately we didn´t get any good pictures, the one above is from the BBC)
Most of the polls had Evo Morales squeaking to victory by having about 30% of the vote which would´ve been enough to edge out the next closest candidate but force the senate to choose who won. That seemed low though, we´ve spent the last several days travelling through Bolvia and have seen at least ten "Evo! Somos Mas!" ("Evo! We are more!") signs to every one for any other candidate. So it makes sense that Evo has just won with a clear majority (51%) and the next closest candidate has already conceded. Morales, coincidentally, is a native American. He is the first Native American president in this country (which has an indigenous majority)in its 180 year history.
Those of you keeping track at home might be pleased (or frusterated) to learn that as far to the political right the US is goining our hemisphere as a whole is swinging decidedly to the left. Morales election brings Bolivia into the ranks of Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, Cuba as countries led by popular socialist leaning politicians.
Congrats Evo, and good luck!
great lil' overview, boys...harold, can ya help a brother out and at least give us a link with more details (y'know, and make your post informative). cheers!
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