MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolivian Tribunal confirms Evo Morales’ sweeping electoral victory

The first indigenous president of Bolivia can feel safe at the ballot box but not in the air

Bolivia’s re-elected president Evo Morales ratified his sweeping victory on December 6 general election when he was supported by 64.2% of the vote, according to the final vote count from the country’s Electoral Court.

Morales also managed to consolidate an overwhelming majority in the two-house congress which will in the future be called the Pluri-national Legislative Assembly.

The president obtained 2.943.209 votes and significant victories in the provinces of La Paz, Oruro, Potosi, Cochabamba, Chuquisaca, Tarija and was runner up to conservative presidential candidate Manfred Reyes Villa in the opposition dominated provinces of Santa Cruz, Beni and Pando.

Morales was also the winner among overseas Bolivians voting in Argentina, Spain and Brazil but lost in the US. The final turn out was 4.582.786 voters.

A total of 170.000 Bolivian expatriates voted overseas for the first time..

Reyes Villa with 26.5% managed 1.212.795 votes, less than half those obtained by Morales.

The Progress Plan for Bolivia party to which Reyes Villa belongs, a catch-all coalition of opposition groups, has the second largest representation in the Bolivian congress.

In related news the aircraft transporting president Morales was forced Wednesday to an emergency landing in Cochabamba following “a minor” hydraulic failure in the landing system, according to a presidential spokesperson.

The aircraft was flying to Sucre but landed in Cochabamba, 400 kilometres from La Paz reported Ivan Canelas, presidential spokesperson.

“The president is feeling great and is working. Evo is not easily scared, he’s a born fighter”, added Canelas.

However the presidential support team is not satisfied since Morales is a frequent air traveller and this was not the first incident. The presidential aircraft has two engines and was purchased in the seventies.

“It’s 30 years old, we need a new aircraft”, he added.

Bolivia is in the process of negotiating the acquisition of a 35 million US dollars Antonov for the country’s presidency.