Bolivia

A fourth province votes for autonomy

Article published on the 2008-06-23 Latest update 2008-06-23 14:17 TU

Crowds in Tarija province, 22 June 2008.
(Photo: Reuters)

A fourth province in Bolivia's wealthy eastern lowlands has voted overwhelmingly for greater autonomy from the central government in a referendum Sunday. Tarija province, where most of the country’s natural gas reserves are found, sent a strong rebuke to President Evo Morales and his plan to redistribute land and resources.

With early results showing that more than 80 percent of voters opted for greater autonomy, Tarija joins Santa Cruz, Beni and Pando provinces, which have already held similar referendums with similar results.

“Autonomy doesn’t stop here. Now, we are four, but soon we’ll be nine,” Tarija Governor Mario Cossio said, referring to all of Bolivia's provinces, in front of a crowd in the capital, on a stage where he was flanked by the governors of the three other rebel provinces.

The abstention rate was just under 35 per cent, though it ran as high as 47 per cent in some parts of the province.

President Evo Morales has called the referendums illegal and a waste of money, and says the results are not legitimate.

The growing autonomy movement is a response to Morales’ wealth redistribution plan.  He wants to transfer oil and gas revenues, as well as land, to the largely indigenous and poor majority concentrated in the western mountainous regions.

Tarija has only 400,000 inhabitants, though it has 85 per cent of the country’s natural gas which accounting for 13 per cent of GDP.

Morales has called his own nation-wide plebiscite for 10 August, and says he'll resign if a greater majority rejects his government than elected him in 2005.