Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Bolivia's Morales admits loss in referendum on term limits

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-35651063
Bolivia's President Evo Morales has accepted defeat in a referendum which aimed to change the constitution to allow him to run for another term.
Mr Morales said he had "lost a small battle, but not the war".
With 99.7% of the votes counted, 51.3% of voters had rejected the proposal, while 48.7% had voted for it. 
Evo Morales has been in power since 2006 and his current term, his third, runs out in 2020.

'Dirty war'

"The struggle does not end here, just because the 'no' has won," President Morales said.
He also spoke about a "dirty war" which he said had been conducted against him in the run-up to the referendum.
The president's approval ratings had fallen after recent allegations that he used his influence to favour a Chinese construction firm which employs his former girlfriend.
Mr Morales has rejected the allegations and has ordered an investigation into how the contracts were awarded.
"We respect the results, it is part of democracy," he said. 
Mr Morales had said on Tuesday that he wanted to wait until the full election results were announced to comment. 
Exit polls had given the "no" campaign a wide lead after polls closed on Sunday, but that lead dwindled to 2.6 percentage points as results came in from rural areas, where support for Mr Morales is strongest.
Mr Morales is the longest-serving Bolivian president since the Andean country gained independence from Spain in 1825.
But many voters said they felt changing the constitution to allow Mr Morales to serve beyond the 19 consecutive years in office he will reach at the end of his term would go too far.

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