MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Conciliatory message from Evo Morales to Washington

Indian candidate Evo Morales favourite to win Bolivia's Sunday presidential election said he was willing to begin “talks” with United States but “without any kind of submission”, if he is finally elected.

During a press conference with foreign journalists in his stronghold the city of Cochabamba Morales stressed that although he has been the target of all kinds of false allegations by US officials, he's willing to with George W. Bush's administration.

"We are going to keep seeking dialogue. Bilateral relations are important, but we will never engage in relations marked by submission, blackmail, subordination or intimidation", underlined Morales, leader of the Movement Toward Socialism, or MAS.

"As Quechuas and Aymaras, owners of this noble land, we have every right to defend our dignity and sovereignty" insisted Mr. Morales who holds a five-point lead over conservative rival Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga.

Asked whether he considers himself aligned with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, Cuba's Fidel Castro, Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva or Argentina's Nestor Kirchner, Morales replied that "every country has its own peculiarities".

"In Bolivia the struggle of our ancestors ... has been over land and territory. If Bolivia made the most of its natural resources, we would live better than in Switzerland" The Bolivian nation has lived different times: "times of liberation, times of quest for equality, for Justice".

But Mr. Morales also announced that his party, MAS, will respect the decision of Congress in naming the next president if no candidate obtains an absolute majority of the popular vote in Sunday's polling.

Nevertheless he felt confident that he would garner an absolute majority and insisted he would not strike alliances within Congress, which almost certainly next January will be nominating Bolivia's next president.

The latest opinion polls before the 48 hours ban leading to Sunday's vote showed Mr. Morales with 34,2% and Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga 29.2%.

"We are a democratic party, we respect the rule of the law, we respect Bolivia's political constitution", said Mr. Morales who added that "if they snatch victory from us, it is legal, it is constitutional, and we are going to respect it" which means whoever is voted second or third "could be Bolivia's next president".

However he warned that "something altogether different is how public opinion reacts. I don't know to what degree it could react".

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva praised Friday the Bolivian election process saying it was a clear example of the advance of democracy, particularly in the event of an indigenous Bolivian becoming president.

"It's the working of democracy, "just as it paved the way for himself, a humbly born union activist", to reach Brazil's highest elected office.

"We are proving that democracy is the best instrument of the political game, because it allows a worker to reach the presidency, and not only in Brazil. We are close to an election in Bolivia, and an Indian is about to be elected president" underlined President Lula da Silva in the port of Suape, where along with Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez, he broke ground for a bi-national oil refinery.