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First round of unilateral consultations on autonomy in Bolivia comes to an end

Referendum held last weekend in Tarija, one of Bolivia’s richest departments due to its reserves of natural gas · Evo Morales’ Government keen to remind opposition supporters that such consultations are unconstitutional · Prefects of four autonomist departments to campaign against a recall election for departmental and state officials.

Last weekend's vote in Tarija marked the end of the first round of unilateral consultations organized by opposition groups who want to distance themselves from the policies of President Evo Morales, who took office in 2006. Support for the opposition is greatest in the four departments in the east of the country.

With a share of the vote similar to that obtained in the departments of Santa Cruz, Beni and Pando, the autonomists won a clear victory in Tarija with 80% of voters in favour of new statutes drawn up by the four prefects. The Tarija vote is particularly important because of the department's extensive reserves of natural gas, which make it one of the richest areas in Bolivia.

The Bolivian Government, meanwhile, has stressed the fact that 47% of the electorate either abstained (some pro-Government indigenous leaders called for abstention) or voted against the new statutes.

Now that public consultations have been held in the four departments, the prefects will change tack, encouraging other departments to hold referendums on autonomy and campaigning against the recall election Evo Morales wants to hold on 10 August.

In an effort to overcome the current political crisis in Bolivia, Evo Morales announced that a country-wide referendum would be held to determine whether Bolivian citizens have confidence in their President, Vice-President and nine departmental prefects. If any of these officers receives more votes against him than the number of votes he obtained in December 2005, he will automatically be dismissed.

As reported in La Razón, the four autonomist prefects have already said such a consultation "would do nothing to solve the country's crisis".

Bolivia on the verge of political paralysis
Calls for greater autonomy for the four departments in eastern Bolivia known as the "media luna", or half-moon, have multiplied since Morales came to power two years ago and began addressing issues such as the marginalization of the indigenous population, agricultural reform and the nationalization of resources for the first time in Bolivia's history. The leaders of the ‘half-moon' departments see autonomism as a chance to put a halt to the centralized policies of the Bolivian Government.

A new constitution came into force in Bolivia last December, although it was only approved by pro-Government parties because the vote was boycotted by the opposition, who then set about organizing referendums on departmental statutes giving departments considerably greater autonomy than the new constitution. Government and opposition prefects have since held talks in an effort to bridge differences but so far without any success.

As a result, the country is now on the verge of major institutional crisis. There is a very real threat that the localized violence that took place between government and opposition supporters during the referendums on departmental statutes will escalate ahead of Morales' crucial recall election in August.

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