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Bolivians are set to vote today in an election in which President Evo Morales is expected to be re-elected for a third term in office with enough votes to avoid a run-off. |
According to opinion polls, the left-wing populist Morales, 54, is likely to get about 59% of the vote, with his closest rival more than 40 percentage points behind.
The charismatic former coca leaf grower - the first president of indigenous descent to lead the country where 85% of the population of over 10mn is indigenous - has led Bolivia since January 22, 2006.
If he is re-elected and completes another five years in office, he would become the longest-serving president in the history of the Andean country.
His first years in office saw bold moves in a heavily polarized country, including a new constitution in 2009 that recognized among other things the autonomy of Bolivia’s indigenous people, and the nationalisation of the country’s natural resources.
In recent years, Morales and his government have kept up their socialist rhetoric, while also attracting foreign investors.
The rating agency Fitch has promoted Bolivia from B- to BB- with a positive outlook. The government says there will be no more nationalisations, and gross domestic product grew by 6.8% last year and is expected to grow by more than 5% this year.
Both sides of the ideological divide are essentially content with Morales’ performance, and the opposition has lost a lot of ground. If re-elected, Morales says he will seek to get more value added to the country’s natural resources before they leave Bolivia.
Voting centres are set to open at 8am (1200 GMT) and close eight hours later. The first preliminary official results are expected at about 0000 GMT tomorrow, when exit poll results will also be allowed to be made public.
More than 170 international observers will be on hand to ensure that the election is fair. Bolivian voters will choose from five candidates for president and also will vote on the membership of both houses of Congress.