Left Wing Politicians Win In Bolivia; Morales Upbeat On Changing The Constitution
Matthew Borghese - All Headline News Staff Writer La Paz, Bolivia (AHN) - Bolivian President Evo Morales has won the majority he needs in parliament to begin rewriting the constitution. Early results say leftist party candidates won 133 out of 255 seats. While it is short of the two-thirds majority needed for full control, President Morales, a leftist leader looking to make sweeping reforms, says it is enough. President Morales says, "This support ... gives us the strength to go on changing." "We want to be an exemplary country in Latin America with the participation of the people. That is what is historical about today." As for fair elections, over 100 observers from the Organization of American States (OAS) and European Union (EU) were on hand to see the results from an estimated 23,000 voting stations. Horacio Serpa, an observer from the OAS, tells the BBC, "We are continually receiving reports from the entire country and so far they are favorable." Already a reformer, President Morales has allied the Andean nation with leftist leaders Hugo Chavez, from Venezuela, and Fidel Castro, from Cuba. Once in office, President Morales nationalized the oil and gas industries and began redistributing land to the poor. However, many see constitutional changes as the most promising way to ensure his reforms remain past his time in office.
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