Socialist Evo Morales assured of becoming Bolivia's next president, winning 51.2 percent of the popular vote
"The sweeping if unofficial victory of Evo Morales in Bolivia's presidential election Sunday has made the former coca farmer and grass-roots activist the nation's strongest elected leader since the end of the last military dictatorship in 1982 and has given him an unprecedented opportunity to transform the impoverished Andean country. The question, say both Bolivian and U.S. observers, is whether the socialist candidate will use that mandate to enact pledges for radical economic and political change that won him support among indigenous and poor voters, or demonstrate enough pragmatism to reassure foreign governments and investors whose support he needs for economic development. Morales, 46, is a fiery politician and an Aymara Indian who electrified Bolivia's poor but struck fear into the business elite and irritated officials in Washington by opposing U.S. anti-drug programs and spouting anti-imperialist rhetoric. Whichever path he chooses, his victory stands to resonate far beyond the small, land-locked nation with a history of military coups and wobbly civilian governments".
