Two-Thirds of Bolivians OK with Morales

Bolivia’s Evo Morales is having a positive year, according to a poll by Apoyo, Opinión y Mercado. 67 per cent of respondents approve of the president’s performance, up two points since last February.

Morales—an indigenous leader and coca-leaf farmer—won the December 2005 presidential election as the candidate for the Movement to Socialism (MAS), with 53.72 per cent of the vote. He officially took over as Bolivia’s head of state in January 2006.

In August 2006, the National Constituent Assembly, tasked with re-writing Bolivia’s constitution, held its first session. The assembly can sit for one year, and its proposed body of law must be approved by two-thirds of the 255 lawmakers, and then ratified in a nationwide referendum.

Since taking office, Morales has started a process to nationalize Bolivia’s hydrocarbon and mining industries while trying to maintain ties with international companies operating in the country. After Venezuela, Bolivia holds the largest gas reserves in Latin America and its resources are crucial for countries like Brazil and Chile.

On Mar. 28, Luis Alberto Echazu was sworn in as Bolivia’s new mining minister. Echazu replaced Guillermo Dalence, who was fired by Morales for spending one week in Cuba meeting with Cuban, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan mining ministers without the president’s consent. Dalence accepted the president’s decision, adding, "We Bolivians have a custom that when someone has made a big mistake, a change has to happen. I don’t think the president has any complaint against me, and I have no reason to protest either."

Polling Data

Do you approve or disapprove of Evo Morales’ performance as president?

	Mar. 2007	Feb. 2007	Jan. 2007
Approve	67%	65%	59%
Disapprove	31%	31%	36%
No opinion	2%	4%	5%

Source: Apoyo, Opinión y Mercado
Methodology: Interviews with 1,027 Bolivian adults in La Paz, El Alto, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz, conducted from Mar. 12 to Mar. 19, 2007. Margin of error is 3.1 per cent.