"Bolivia is a unitary, plurinational, communitarian, free, independent, sovereign, democratic, intercultural, autonomous and decentralized state based on the rule of law and social justice. Bolivia is grounded on plurality and political, economic, legal, cultural and linguistic pluralism, as part of the process of integration.' This is how the first article of the draft constitution defines the Bolivian state. Following an agreement made on October 21, a referendum will be held on the text of the new constitution in January 2009.

In recent weeks, government and opposition parties have been debating the text of the draft constitution which is set to replace the constitution which has been in force since 1967. It is hoped that the new constitution will bring closure to one of the most tumultuous periods in Bolivia's recent history by vastly extending the rights of the indigenous population, which has been marginalized in the past, and by granting greater protection to linguistic and cultural diversity in general.

The new constitution gives official status to all 36 of Bolivia's indigenous languages, along with Spanish, and stipulates that both central and autonomous regional governments must use at least two different languages. All government employees will need a good command of Spanish and at least one native language.

The replacement constitution will also bring changes concerning decentralization and regional autonomy, issues that have been central to the long-standing conflict between the pro-indigenous government and the prefects of four departments in eastern Bolivia. The draft text establishes three levels of government with full legislative, judicial, fiscal and executive powers: departmental, municipal and indigenous. In the case of departmental autonomy, the state will reserve the right to intervene in land tenure and territorial matters. The autonomy granted to indigenous communities will be based, as per the new constitution, on "ancestral territories" which will be ruled according to the community's own regulations and forms of government, "established in their statutes and subject to the constitution."

There will also be a further level of regional government with more limited powers, including deliberative, administrative and fiscal powers.

A long time in the making
The draft constitution that has now been approved by the Bolivian Congress is in fact a modified version of a previous draft constitution which was approved by the Constituent Assembly in November 2007 but denounced by the opposition, causing major friction and even violence between government and opposition supporters. In particular, the prefects of the four "media luna" or "half-moon" departments in eastern Bolivia (Santa Cruz, Tarija, Beni and Pando), the richest in the country due to their extensive fossil fuel resources, were bitterly opposed to Evo Morales' policies.

Several months later, the four departments voted in favour of a new statute of autonomy, a document that was drafted independently of the new constitution. In August 2008 the Bolivian people took part in a recall election which strengthened the position of both the President and the opposition prefects. Finally, after a round of discussions that failed to bring the opposing camps any closer together, the Bolivian Congress resumed discussion of the draft constitution.

Further information:

• A summary of the draft Constitution in La Razón: Conozca el proyecto de CPE que irá a votación
• ABI: El pueblo esperó 18 años para decidir en las urnas una nueva Constitución
• El Diario: Presidente promulga hoy leyes para dar nueva CPE a Bolivia
• Nationalia: Bolivian Congress begins debating new constitution i Bolivian Government and opposition parties begin talks to resolve current crisis