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Socialist candidate leads Bolivia voting
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-19 08:43
Bolivia's Socialist presidential candidate Evo Morales, who has promised to
become Washington's "nightmare," held an unexpectedly strong lead over his
conservative rival in Sunday's election, according to two independent exit
polls.
The wide margin means Morales, a coca farmer who has said he will end a
U.S.-backed anti-drug campaign aimed at eradicating the crop used to make
cocaine, will likely be declared president in January.
"If (the U.S.) wants relations, welcome," Morales said after voting, holding
a news conference where piles of coca leaves were spread atop a Bolivian flag.
"But no to a relationship of submission."
Raucous celebrations erupted among Morales' supporters after nationally
televised exit polls showed him with a decisive lead over former President Jorge
Quiroga, who was backed by Bolivia's business elite.
Morales had 45 percent of the vote and Quiroga had 33 percent in an Equipso
Mori poll. A second poll by the private Ipsos Captura organization showed
Morales with a slightly narrower lead of 44.5 percent to 34 percent for Quiroga.
Minor candidates were getting the rest.
Supporters of Bolivian indigenous leader and
presidential candidate Evo Morales celebrate in La Paz, Bolivia, Sunday,
Dec. 18, 2005. [AP] | Morales counts Cuba's Fidel
Castro and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez among his friends, along with leftists in
Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay who have gained power at the ballot box this
decade. After the exit polls were released, an AP reporter at Morales' home in
Cochabamba said he immediately received a phone call from Chavez.
If Morales fails to win more than 50 percent of the popular vote, Bolivia's
newly elected congress must decide the presidency �� a parliamentary process that
would involve some coalition building and likely be a moderating influence on
Morales, even with his unexpectedly wide margin.
"Evo! Evo!" his supporters chanted in this coca-growing region. In the
capital of La Paz, caravans of honking cars paraded down avenues, their
passengers shouting "Evo Presidente!"
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