President Morales agrees to Bolivian recall vote

By DAN KEANE
Associated Press Writer

President Evo Morales agreed Thursday to stand for election in a nationwide recall vote, gambling that Bolivians will re-elect him after just two years in office and shore up support for his pending reforms.

Morales first proposed a nationwide recall referendum last December amid a fierce political battle over his draft constitution, which would give Bolivia´s long-oppressed indigenous population greater power.

The idea seemed to have been forgotten until Thursday, when an opposition-controlled Senate passed a bill ordering a referendum be held within 90 days. Morales pledged to sign the measure.

"If we politicians can´t agree, it´s best that the population decide our destiny," Morales said in a nationally televised address.

The measure would require Morales and Bolivia´s nine state governors to win both more votes and a greater percentage of support than they did on a 2005 ballot. If they fall short, they will have to run again in a new general election.

Bolivian state governors did not immediately react to the president´s announcement, but most have previously said they would participate in such a vote.

Morales, Bolivia´s first indigenous president, would face recall at arguably the most difficult moment of his young presidency, following a key electoral victory for opponents in Santa Cruz, Bolivia´s biggest and richest state.

In a May 4 referendum there that Morales deemed illegal, voters overwhelmingly backed a declaration seeking greater autonomy from his leftist government.

Morales won the presidency with 53.7 percent of the vote in December 2005, a mandate in a country where presidents sometimes eke into office with far less than a majority on multi-candidate ballots.

Opinion polls show his popularity still hovers above 50 percent, and telephone-based surveys generally reach only city dwellers, excluding Morales´ strong base in the poorer countryside.

But state governors battling for increased autonomy have replaced traditional political parties as Morales´ most powerful opponents.

His opposition is strong in Santa Cruz and the nation´s eastern lowlands, but Morales is wagering that a recall will help his Movement Toward Socialism party pick off a governorship or two in the country´s western highlands _ particularly in La Paz, Bolivia´s most populous state and a Morales stronghold now run by an opposition governor.