Bolivian President Evo Morales declared a landslide re-election victory on Sunday, hailing it as a triumph for socialist reforms that have cut poverty and vastly expanded the state’s role in the booming economy.
Official results were slow coming in, but an exit poll and a quick count showed Morales, a former coca grower, trouncing his opponents with about 60 percent of the vote and easily winning a third term in power.
Morales, who became Bolivia’s first indigenous leader in 2006, will now be able to extend his “indigenous socialism,” under which he has nationalized key industries such as oil and gas to finance welfare programs, and build new roads and schools.
“This was a debate on two models: nationalization or privatization. Nationalization won with more than 60 percent [support],” Morales told thousands of cheering supporters from the balcony of the presidential palace.
A prominent member of the bloc of socialist and anti-US leaders in Latin America, Morales dedicated his victory to former Cuban president Fidel Castro.
“This win is a triumph for anti-imperialists and anti-colonialists,” Morales said.
His folksy appeal and prudent spending of funds from a natural gas bonanza to finance welfare programs, roads and schools have earned the 54-year-old wide support in a country long dogged by political instability.
Fireworks exploded over the palace — dubbed the “Burned Palace” in reference to Bolivia’s history of coups — as Morales loyalists chanted: “Evo, Evo.”
A Mori exit poll released by Unitel television showed Morales winning 61 percent of the vote. His closest rival, businessman Samuel Doria Medina, had 24 percent.
A quick count released by local TV channel ATB showed Morales with 60.5 percent of the vote.
The exit poll and quick count also showed Morales’ Movement Toward Socialism reinforcing its grip on both the lower and upper houses in Congress, meaning he will be able to easily push through further reforms should he chose.
Morales delivered economic growth averaging above 5 percent a year, also winning plaudits from Wall Street for running fiscal surpluses.
Under Morales, the number of Bolivians living in extreme poverty has fallen to one in five from more than one-third of the population of 10 million in 2006.
India and Canada yesterday reached a string of agreements, including on critical mineral cooperation and a “landmark” uranium supply deal for nuclear power, the countries’ leaders said in New Delhi. The pacts, which also covered technology and promoting the use of renewable energy, were announced after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney hailed a fresh start in the relationship between their nations. “Our ties have seen a new energy, mutual trust and positivity,” Modi said. Carney’s visit is a key step forward in ties that effectively collapsed in 2023 after Ottawa accused New Delhi
Gaza is rapidly running out of its limited fuel supply and stocks of food staples might become tight, officials said, after Israel blocked the entry of fuel and goods into the war-shattered territory, citing fighting with Iran. The Israeli military closed all Gaza border crossings on Saturday after announcing airstrikes on Iran carried out jointly with the US. Israeli authorities late on Monday night said that they would reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel to Gaza yesterday, for “gradual entry of humanitarian aid” into the strip, without saying how much. Israeli authorities previously said the crossings could not be operated safely during
Counting was under way in Nepal yesterday, after a high-stakes parliamentary election to reshape the country’s leadership following protests last year that toppled the government. Key figures vying for power include former Nepalese prime minister K. P. Sharma Oli, rapper-turned-mayor Balendra Shah, who is bidding for the youth vote, and newly elected Nepali Congress party leader Gagan Thapa. In Kathmandu’s tea shops and city squares, people were glued to their phones, checking results as early trends flashed up — suggesting Shah’s centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) was ahead. Nepalese Election Commission spokesman Prakash Nyupane said the counting was ongoing “in a peaceful manner”
‘APARTHEID WALL’: Critics said the wall would not stop crime, and that it aimed to hide the poor and the fact that there is a privileged and privilege-deprived Cape Town Cape Town’s plans to build a wall to prevent attacks on the airport highway have divided South Africa’s tourist hotspot, with critics calling it an apartheid throwback to hide poverty. The nearly 9km wall would separate part of the road that leads in from the international airport from the packed, impoverished settlements that line the route. Attacks — some deadly — have been reported for years along the busy multi-lane route, including hijackings and smash-and-grab ambushes. “They’ll come with a stone and break the windscreen,” e-hailing driver Mustafa Hashim said, recounting stories of attacks on the corridor known as the “N2 hell
RSS