Bolivia region votes overwhelmingly for autonomy

Washington Post:

Bolivia's wealthiest region voted Sunday to distance itself from the central government, directly defying President Evo Morales with a measure that aims to give local authorities more power over resources.

Morales had urged his supporters to ignore the referendum, but turnout was unofficially reported at 61 percent. Multiple exit polls suggested Sunday about 85 percent of Santa Cruz voters voted in favor of the proposal, but final results were not expected before Monday.

The measure directs Santa Cruz authorities -- mainly business leaders who detest Morales's socialist initiatives -- to take more control of locally produced tax revenue, police forces and property ownership administration.

The measure, considered the most serious challenge yet to Morales's presidency, intensified long-standing regional divisions that have made social unrest a defining feature of the political landscape. Scattered clashes between voters and Morales's supporters erupted throughout the day, but the massive disorder that some had feared did not occur.

"It's a historic day, and tomorrow we have more work to do," said Branko Marinkovic, a leader of the Santa Cruz autonomy movement. "We have to determine a new course for Bolivia, and it won't be an easy task."

Because the national government considers the referendum illegal, its true effect remains unclear. Morales, who had likened it to a nonbinding opinion poll, on Sunday night dismissed it as "a failure."

"This poll, which is illegal and unconstitutional, was not the success that they hoped for," Morales said during a televised speech, which was delivered while thousands filled the streets of Santa Cruz in a massive victory celebration. ". . . Between the abstention rate of 39 percent, the votes 'no' and the blank ballots, that is practically 50 percent."

Political analysts predicted that the voters' approval of the measure, however, will give regional leaders traction that could force negotiations in an ideological stalemate over divisions of power. Or it could make an eventual collision even more jarring.

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Morales needs to give these people a reason to stay rather than a reason to go it alone. That is the history of these kind of movements. His failure to do so is a failure of leadership and a sign that he is out of touch with the region. It is also a sign of his totalitarian drift. It is a huge mistake for him and for Bolivia. If he does not negotiate in good faith with these people Bolivia will suffer a huge schism.

Morales's attempt to explain away the results beggars common sense. If he really though it would even be a tie he would not have ordered his people not to participate. What he is trying to do is count every none vote as a no vote. That is not the way elections work and if they did he would never have been elected.