Vote reflects racial divide

SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia | The Bolivian vote to approve a new constitution backed by leftist President Evo Morales reflected racial divisions between the nation’s Indian majority and those with European ancestry.

Though the results of Sunday’s referendum are not official, about 60 percent of voters approved the new charter, according to preliminary results.

Mr. Morales said the vote reflected the end of a colonial era for his nation, one of the poorest in Latin America.

Opposition leaders called the contest a technical draw, claiming that majorities in the nation’s eastern lowlands voted against it.

As the vote count proceeded Monday, however, the eastern province of Pando switched from the “no” to the “yes” column, as did another province, Chuquisaca.

That left three of nine provinces where a majority of votes counted opposed the new charter.

“The constitution promotes a reverse system of exclusion by which non-Indians and city dwellers would be disenfranchised,” said Mario Cossio, governor of Tarija province, where voters rejected the charter.

The document was rejected in areas with mestizo (mixed race) and European-descended majorities, which are concentrated in the resource-rich east.

It won overwhelming support in Western highland provinces dominated by an impoverished Indian majority, from which Mr. Morales draws his support.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Robert Wood congratulated Bolivia on the vote.

“I don´t think the results are final at this point, but we look forward to working with the Bolivian government in ways we can to further democracy and, you know, prosperity in the hemisphere,” Mr. Wood said.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called the results a victory for Mr. Morales’ effort to lead a “peaceful and democratic revolution.”

Mr. Morales and Mr. Chavez advocate a socialist system that nationalizes resources and key industries in an effort to redistribute wealth to the poor.

The constitution also allows for a system of voting that would guarantee an Indian majority in Congress through the creation of “special original indigenous peasant” districts.

Constitutional lawyer Hugo Acha said this provision will allow small Indian communities of just a few hundred people to elect their own voting members of Congress.

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