 LA PAZ – President Evo Morales said on Monday that the same exit polls which show him winning another term in Bolivian’s elections indicate his leftist MAS party will continue to command a two-thirds majority in both houses of congress. “The thumping (at the polls) is encapsulated in the two-thirds (majority),” he told a press conference. While the official results have been delayed by logistical problems and the adoption of additional security measures following threats from hackers to sabotage the process, exit polls and an unofficial – but usually reliable – expedited count show that Morales won on Sunday with nearly 60 percent of the vote. The same figures indicate that MAS will dominate both houses of congress and control eight of Bolivia’s nine provinces. A two-thirds legislative majority will allow Morales, the first indigenous president in the history of the Indian-majority Andean nation, to push through further legal changes. Bolivian opposition parties have expressed fears that with a super-majority in congress, Morales will seek to call a referendum on amending the constitution to eliminate presidential term limits, something he denies. Morales and Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera were first elected in 2005 and won a second term in 2009. The new constitution drafted and ratified under the MAS government limits the president to two five-year terms, but the incumbents were allowed to run again this year because they came to power under the old charter. Opposition parties focused so much on the theme of denying MAS a two-thirds majority that they neglected to put forward any positive proposals of their own, Morales said. “So much fear of Evo? That’s their program?” he asked. |