Mesa Proposes Early Elections in Bolivia (from Narconews)

[aneerkoinos]

"In a televised address, President Carlos Mesa has proposed to the country, and to the national congress, early elections, to be held this August 28. The elections would be for president, vice president, senators, deputies (members of Bolivia’s lower house of Congress), and, at the same time, for the members of the Constituents’ Assembly. According to Mesa, these measures will be the best exit from a stalemate between two objective realities that today find themselves in conflict over the form and organization of Bolivia.

In the Chapare the blockades have continued without interruption for the last two weeks, and in other regions the social movements began to appear, shutting down roads and organizing marches and sudden demonstrations… and the 48-hour general strike called for in the National Mobilization Pact, which will begin at midnight, gives indications of being widespread and powerful. Because of this, Mesa’s decision in his speech a few minutes ago is of great importance.

For just over half an tour, the Bolivian president appeared before the television cameras to explain his new proposal. Showing off his refined speaking skills, Mesa summarized the “impossibilities” he faces, claiming that the National Congress blocked his hydrocarbons law proposal, that the National Public Ministry (Bolivia’s justice department, headed by the Attorney General of the Republic), blocked his attempts to press criminal charges against his opponents and blockaders, and that “Congressman Evo Morales has blockaded the entire country on me.”"


More:
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/3/15/211229/450

[aneerkoinos]

1. Bolivia Congress may ask Mesa to stay -opposition

"LA PAZ, Bolivia, March 16 (Reuters) - Bolivia's Congress may reject President Carlos Mesa's surprise call for early elections and ask him to stay in office until 2007, the country's top opposition leader, Evo Morales, said on Wednesday.

Mesa submitted a bill late on Tuesday calling for presidential elections in August, two years ahead of schedule. Mesa said that street protests against his rule have paralyzed the economy and left him unable to govern.

"We want him to stay," said Morales, a lower house deputy and head of the main opposition party Movement Toward Socialism. "We and other parties think the proposal for early elections is unconstitutional.""

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N16297300.htm

[bemildred]

2. That's very smart of Morales. nt