December 2005 Archives

On Sunday, Bolivia will hold it's long-awaited elections.

I'm not crazy about Evo Morales — that's no secret. Despite my insignificant opposition, though, it appears he will win a plurality (not a majority) of the vote.

Whoever wins, it is highly likely the president will not be decided by the election but by the Congress, since none of the candidates is likely to get a majority of the popular vote, which Bolivia's consitution requires.

Yoli got an email from a family member in Santa Cruz who mentioned they were planning to vote for Evo. Why? Not because they liked Evo. Quite the contrary.

Yoli remains a Bolivian citizen, though she lives in the U.S. as a permanent resident. That situation can be uncomfortable come election time.

Problem 1 - She can't vote. The Bolivian constitution provides for absentee voting, but unfortunately the Bolivian government is far from being capable of making this a reality. Essentially, Bolivian ex-patriates (and there are a lot of them here in the States and in Europe) are disenfranchised.

Problem 2 - She was chosen to work the polls this year. In Bolivia everything related to the elections carries penalties. The government selects people to man the polls, and if you don't show up, you risk being fined or jailed. Obviously this is tricky for us, but we sent a copy of our marriage certificate to prove that she is living in the U.S. and not in Bolivia. Funnily enough, this also happened when Yoli was in the U.S. the first time (2001).