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A vote of confidence in
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
Evo Morales Juan Evo Morales Ayma (; born 26 October 1959) is a Bolivian politician, trade union organizer, and former cocalero activist who served as the 65th president of Bolivia from 2006 to 2019. Widely regarded as the country's first president to come ...
in the form of a
referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...
was held in
Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...
on 10 August 2008."Morales 'wins' Bolivia referendum"
Al Jazeera, August 11, 2008.
The vote was held to determine whether Morales,
Vice President A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...
Álvaro García Linera Álvaro Marcelo García Linera (; born 19 October 1962) is a Bolivian politician, sociologist, Marxist theoretician, and former guerrilla who served as the 38th vice president of Bolivia from 2006 to 2019. A member of the Movement for Soc ...
, and eight out of nine departmental
prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect' ...
s should stay in office.Simon Gardner
"Morales seen winning Bolivia vote, reforms in air"
Reuters (''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
''), August 7, 2008 (accessed August 7, 2008).
Morales received more than 67% support and six of the eight prefects were returned. The prefects of
Cochabamba Department Cochabamba (, , ), from Quechua ''qucha'' or ''qhucha'', meaning "lake", ''pampa'' meaning "plain", is one of the nine departments of Bolivia. It is known to be the " granary" of the country because of its variety of agricultural products from ...
and La Paz Department were defeated and had to face re-election.


Background

The referendum was initially suggested by Morales in December 2007, but was rejected by the opposition at the time. However, the opposition-controlled
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
brought back the suggestion following their victory in the Santa Cruz autonomy referendum on 4 May 2008, with Morales agreeing to hold the vote. The
recall election A recall election (also called a recall referendum, recall petition or representative recall) is a procedure by which voters can remove an elected official from office through a referendum before that official's term of office has ended. Recalls ...
would be deemed successful if the percentage voting in favour of the recall exceeded the percentage of voters that originally voted for the person. For Morales and Linera, there would have to be more than 53.74% (their margin in the 2005 presidential election). The same rules apply for the governors, but their margins are between 48% and 38% in La Paz Department which makes their recall much easier to accomplish. If the recall is successful then fresh elections would be held. Morales has stated that if he stays in office, he will use the referendum result as a springboard for more reforms – for instance, setting a date for the constitutional referendum which would grant more rights to Bolivia's poor indigenous population. If he loses, he said he would go back to farming
coca Coca is any of the four cultivated plants in the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America. Coca is known worldwide for its psychoactive alkaloid, cocaine. Coca leaves contain cocaine which acts as a mild stimulant when chewed or ...
. Polls in May 2008 showed Morales easily defeating the recall. Following autonomy referendums held in the second quarter of 2008 in Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando and Tarija, the governors of these four states initially refused to take part in the recall referendum unless the referendum complied with the new autonomy statutes, which the Supreme Electoral Court considers to be invalid; they pushed for early elections to be held instead. Nonetheless, the governors later agreed to participate. However, there were still obstructive measures from these four departments a few days before the referendum. The recall referendum did not apply to the governor of Chuquisaca Department, as Savina Cuéllar was just elected very recently in June 2008. Cuéllar was a member of the Bolivian Constituent Assembly for Morales' Movement for Socialism, but ran for governorship of Chuquisaca as the candidate of the opposition Interinstitutional Committee Alliance, winning with 55% to MAS' Wálter Valda's 45%. The gubernatorial election was held after the previous governor, David Sánchez of MAS, resigned (against the wish of his party) due to violent protests. Shortly before the election, the rules were changed, though the legality of this move remains in doubt; under the new rules, the governors will be removed from office if over 50% of voters recall them, effectively raising the threshold required.James Painter
"Divided Bolivia set for referendum"
BBC News, August 9, 2008.


Results

, - ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:left;" , Position ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:left;" , Party ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Candidate ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Votes against recall ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , % against recall ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , % threshold ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Result , - , style="text-align:left;" ,
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Vice President A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...
, , Movement Toward Socialism , , Juan Evo Morales Ayma
Álvaro García Linera Álvaro Marcelo García Linera (; born 19 October 1962) is a Bolivian politician, sociologist, Marxist theoretician, and former guerrilla who served as the 38th vice president of Bolivia from 2006 to 2019. A member of the Movement for Soc ...
, , 2,103,732 , , 67.41% , , 53.7% , , Survived , - , style="text-align:left;" , Prefect of
Beni Department Beni (), sometimes El Beni, is a northeastern Departments of Bolivia, department of Bolivia, in the lowlands region of the country. It is the second-largest department in the country (after Santa Cruz), covering 213,564 square kilometers (82,458 ...
, , PODEMOS , , Ernesto Suárez , , 64,866 , , 64.25% , , 44.64% , , Survived , - , style="text-align:left;" , Prefect of Chuquisaca Department , , Allianza Comité Interinstitucional , , Savina Cuéllar , , colspan=4 style="text-align:center;" , Not voting , - , style="text-align:left;" , Prefect of
Cochabamba Department Cochabamba (, , ), from Quechua ''qucha'' or ''qhucha'', meaning "lake", ''pampa'' meaning "plain", is one of the nine departments of Bolivia. It is known to be the " granary" of the country because of its variety of agricultural products from ...
, , Nueva Fuerza Republicana , , Manfred Reyes Villa , , 195,290 , , 35.19% , , 47.64% , , Recalled , - , style="text-align:left;" , Prefect of La Paz Department , , , , José Luis Paredes , , 362,214 , , 35.48% , , 37.99% , , Recalled , - , style="text-align:left;" , Prefect of Oruro Department , , , , Alberto Luis Aguilar , , 84,364 , , 50.86% , , 40.95% , , Survived , - , style="text-align:left;" , Prefect of
Pando Department Pando is a Department (country subdivision), department in Northern Bolivia, with an area of , in the Amazon Rainforest, adjoining the border with Brazil and Peru, Perú. Pando has a population of 130,761 (2024 census). Its capital is the city o ...
, , PODEMOS , , Leopoldo Fernández , , 14,841 , , 56.21% , , , 48.03% , , Survived , - , style="text-align:left;" , Prefect of
Potosí Department Potosí (; Southern Quechua, Quechua: ''P'utuqsi''; Aymara language, Aymara: ''Putusi'') is a Departments of Bolivia, department in southwestern Bolivia. Its area is 118,218 km2 and its population is 856,419 (2024 census). The capital is the ...
, , , , Mario Virreira , , 171,629 , , 79.08% , , 40.69% , , Survived , - , style="text-align:left;" , Prefect of Santa Cruz Department , , Autonomy for Bolivia , , Ruben Costas , , 451,191 , , 66.43% , , 47.87% , , Survived , - , style="text-align:left;" , Prefect of Tarija Department , , Civic Committee , , Mario Cossío , , 78,170 , , 58.06% , , 45.65% , , Survived , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan=6 , Source
National Election Court of Bolivia


References


External links


IFES ElectionGuide.org Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolivian vote of confidence referendum, 2008 2008 elections in South America Vote of confidence referendum 2008 referendums Recall elections 2008 vote of confidence referendum August 2008 in South America