Bolivia enters the "Against Us" Column

sounds like I'm spinning doesn't it? Well read the last sentence. The commies are coming, the commies are coming!

Morales Headed Toward Victory in Bolivia
By FIONA SMITH
Associated Press Writer
Nearly complete vote tabulations Wednesday pointed to an easy victory by leftist leader Evo Morales, showing the coca grower with more popular support than any Bolivian president since democracy was restored two decades ago.

Morales, an Aymara Indian active in street protests that drove two presidents from office since 2003, had 54.3 percent of the votes cast in Sunday's election, according to official returns based on tallies from 93 percent of polling places.

Turnout was near 85 percent, much higher than in previous elections in this poor South American nation, the electoral court said. He campaigned against Bolivia's free-market policies and vowed to be Washington's "nightmare" while criticizing the U.S.-backed campaign to eradicate the coca crop, which provides the base of cocaine.

Morales' outright majority in the eight-man race was unexpected. It is the first time since democratic rule resumed in 1982 that Bolivia's presidential election did not end inconclusively at the ballot box, leaving it to Congress to make the final choice.

The surprising strength of his victory was one reason widely held fears of post-election chaos dissipated. Fitch Ratings, an international credit rating agency, kept Bolivia's credit rating unchanged Wednesday, saying Morales' government might have a greater degree of legitimacy than its recent predecessors and therefore lead to better governance.

Conservative parties held on to many seats in Congress, but Morales' strong victory should give him leverage with Bolivia's political and business elite as he makes the transition from leader of street protests to his nation's presidents, analysts said.

"If the opposition parties are seen as not being constructive and blocking everything Morales tries to do that would not be in their own interests," said Michael Shifter, vice president for policy at Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based think tank.

"I think that they initially would have to be pretty cooperative, recognizing that Morales has a very broad and impressive mandate."

The National Electoral Court wasn't expected to formally declare Morales the winner until all votes are counted, but his victory margin has increased as ballots arrive from his strongholds in remote areas.

His conservative rival, Jorge Quiroga, conceded defeat after finishing with just 28.6 percent, and Bolivia's caretaker president was already organizing a transition team in anticipation of Morales' inauguration Jan. 22.

Morales, 46, will be the country's first Indian president during its 180 years of independence even though Indians make up a majority of the population.

Although he is a coca farmer himself and long a critic of the anti-drug eradication campaign, Morales insists his government will fight drug trafficking, but also will preserve a legal market for coca in Bolivia. For thousands of years, people in the Andes have chewed coca to stave off hunger, made it into tea or used it as medicine.

Morales leads the Movement Toward Socialism party and counts Cuban President Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez among his closest allies. But he says he will protect private property while turning over "vacant, unproductive" land to poor farmers and increasing state control of Bolivia's natural gas reserves.

He also has said he welcomes good relations with the United States, but won't accept a "relationship of submission."

In turn, U.S. diplomats have offered congratulations, but expressed caution about the victory of a man who has described himself as the "nightmare" for the United States.