Elections today in Bolivia

another one of the 18 Latin American countries with elections scheduled prior to the end of 2006 goes to the polls today...

Two deeply divided groups will test their followings in the polls today in Bolivia. [...] There is one group which is at once loosely identified with the left. Loosely because its ideological content has more to do with nationalism, which usually has no clear ideology. What is on offer for the economy is an important experiment called "Andean capitalism", a local version of central-management based on the income from oil and gas. The left aligned with the Movement for Socialism (MAS), led by Evo Morales, is attractive to the have-nots and the original native population excluded from most political programmes for much of the last century. The groups of trade unions, miners, and neighbourhood committees that roughly — for none have given certainty of their backing — support Morales were instrumental, by street demonstrations and more conventional congressional pressure, in bringing down presidents Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada in 2003 and his vice-president promoted to president, Carlos Mesa, in the middle of this year.

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