Bolivia Chooses Evo

It's been a mad 48 hours here trying to keep up with the election. Contrary to all the pre-election polls the predicted a close race with no one getting a majority, Bolivian overwhelming chose Evo Morales, the leftist cocalero, to be the country's next president. Not only will Evo be the first fully indigenous leader in South American history, he is the first president in modern Bolivian history to get over 50% of the vote.

Whether or not you like his politics, no one has ever had such a mandate for change here. Far from being an indigenous movement based in the countryside, the MAS has proven itself able to attract middle and even upper class voters in the cities unhappy with twenty years of rule by the country's traditional parties. Now we'll see if MAS and Morales truly represent a change of course for Bolivia.

I've been writing like crazy to cover these election. You can see my articles, or articles I contributed to, in the Christian Science Monitor, Washington Post, SJ Mercury News, and in the Economist (subscription needed, but I can email it to you).