Morales' allies OK new Bolivian constitution
Bolivian President Evo Morales' allies approved a new constitution that would allow presidents to serve two consecutive five-year terms.
Posted on Mon, Dec. 10, 2007
BY PATRICIO CROOKER AND JACK CHANG
McClatchy News Service
LA PAZ, Bolivia -- After 16 tumultuous months of debate, allies of Bolivia's leftist President Evo Morales hurriedly approved nearly all of a new constitution Sunday morning in a marathon overnight session.
The proposed constitution grants more power to Bolivia's indigenous majority; abolishes the opposition-led Senate; imposes more state control over natural gas, minerals and other natural resources; and permits presidents to be elected to two consecutive five-year terms, a proposal that Morales' opponents call an authoritarian power grab.
An earlier version of the document had allowed indefinite consecutive presidential reelection.
Bolivian voters must approve the constitution in a referendum that's tentatively scheduled for as late as next September. The assembly, which met in the mining town of Oruro, failed to approve one article by the required two-thirds vote. That measure, which limits the size of private land holdings, will be the subject of a separate referendum.
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