With 51 Percent, Evo is President-Elect
By Luis Gomez,Posted on Sun Dec 18th, 2005 at 09:24:37 PM EST
He is giving his first speech to the Bolivian people as, for all intents and purposes, the president-elect. Eighty-eight percent of the votes are counted, and with 51 percent he is the president-elect. He no longer needs any help, is not dependent on the National Congress; EVO MORALES AYMA is the new leader of a country that voted for him massively and is now celebrating, everywhere, in every street and plaza it can find.
A bit of the story...
"With this government, discrimination will come to an end, the xenophobia we have been living through will come to an end… we are going to work to to bring an end to the neoliberal model." So said Evo Morales as part of his speech at the headquarters of the Six Federations of Coca Producers of the Tropic of Cochabamba.
Among the thanks he gave to his people, to the various social sectors, to his hometown (Orinoca), Evo also reminded al that the National Electoral Court did a dirty job by allowing many Bolivians to be denied their right to vote today. "Today, the Bolivian people have given us one more surprise,” he said, “with these elections, despite all the obstacles."
He also thanked the Red Unitel television network, owned by Santa Cruz businessmen, for having run a dirty campaign against him... and his people, who applaud at every pause, shouted and booed at the collegues at that media outlet.
"When I was on my way here, a few comrades that monitor the media told me that we now have 51 percent," explained Evo. He later asked for prudence in waiting for the final results to come in to the offices of the National Electoral Court.
Evo's party, the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS), now has 78 congressmen. They need 79 to be the majority in the two houses of the National Congress. Of course, there is a congressman-elect from Felipe Quispe's party... but this fight isn't over yet...
Now, we're going to let Evo finish in peace. Starting tomorrow, he will have much work to do, not to mention next January 22...
