Deputy Dr. Rosinha (PT-PR), President of Mercosul Parliament, will coordinate the mission

A mission constituted by electoral observers of Mercosul will observe the referendum on the new constitution in Bolivia, on Sunday (25). Around 3,900,000 Bolivian electors will vote to say “yes” or “no” to the text.

Deputy Dr. Rosinha (PT-PR), President of Mercosul Parliament, will coordinate the mission of observers. “It seems that the current scenario in Bolivia is quieter than some months ago, when we attested the legality of the revocatory referendum of mandates”, assesses Dr. Rosinha. “I hope popular will is respected by all political forces in that country and that there is no violence of any kind”.

In August 2008, the President of Mercosul Parliament was one of the coordinators of the mission of observers of the bloc which endorse the electoral process which eventually confirmed the mandate of President Evo Morales.

In addition to Dr. Rosinha, the Senator Inácio Arruda (PCdoB-CE) will also integrate the Brazilian mission. Representatives of Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay will also take part in the group. In addition to Mercosul, the European Union, the Organization of American States and the Union of South-American Nations, among other international bodies, will also send observers to Bolivian territory.

“The organization of that kind of referenda broadens the popular participation in politics” affirms the president of Mercosul Parliament. “It is about an advanced resource that will never be used in Brazil, for instance.”

Further information on the referendum
The referendum on the new Bolivian constitution is the result of an agreement between the government of that country and the opposition, closed last October, with the authorization of the Presidents of Unasul. More than 100 articles of the original bill, presented by the Constituent Assembly, were amended by the agreement.

In its original version, the Chart offered the possibility that Evo Morales stay in the government until 2019. He accepted to run for only one more re-election, in a voting previewed for December 2009, which means including a shortening of his mandate, which will end in 2010. The current constitution forbids reelection.

The new constitution includes a series of rights to Indigenous peoples. Among them, there is the autonomy on traditional land and the priority in the distribution of revenues obtained with the sale of Brazilian natural resources.

Among other measures, the text also provides for the limit for the size of new rural properties and special legislatives for Bolivian departments (states).

From the newsroom/PCS

Translation - Positive Idiomas Ltda