Yesterday, (Sunday, January 25) the “yes” won in Bolivia. After a lot of struggles and negotiations the population of Bolivia chose to change the constitution, which was perceived by the majority of Bolivian population as unfair and aimed to benefit the wealthiest. The new constitution has 411 articles, which includes as the key elements:
Re-election: Allows Mr Morales to stand for re-election in Dec 2009
Indigenous rights: Stresses importance of ethnicity in Bolivia's make-up. A whole chapter devoted to indigenous rights
Autonomy: Power decentralized, four levels of autonomy - departmental, regional, municipal and indigenous
Resources: Sets out state control over key economic sectors, state sovereignty over vast natural gas fields
Judiciary: Indigenous systems of justice same status as official existing system. Judges will be elected, and no longer appointed by Congress.
Land: New limit on ownership 5,000 hectares (12,355). But measure not retroactive.
On one hand, the majority of people who are happy about the change, emphasize the recognition to indigenous rights and their empowerment, and the idea of protecting the poor to make the Bolivian society more equal, as it is one of the poorest countries in Latin America. On the other hand, the opposition claims that with these changes, the Bolivian society is more divided than ever and that Morales only wants to be reelected.
To that claim, Vice-President Alvaro Garcia Linera (who was one of the main writers of the new draft)says "I am not saying there will be no more conflict, there will be tensions for a while, I say a decade... but we will have built a state on three principles: the economy under state control, equality, and the territorial decentralisation of power."
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