Priorities & historical context

06.14.2005

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Rodríguez is taking his time to set up his new cabinet. Can someone explain to me why he would even want to waste spend time putting together a cabinet? He is just going to hold new elections in 180 days (give or take), right? Why not just let the bureaucracy function as it's been functioning (perhaps even scale it back, say temporarily, close the Ministry of Sports) and focus exclusively on: 1) new national elections, 2) autonomy referendum, 3) prefectural elections. That's what I'd do.

Of course, today's continued protests in El Alto calling for every member of parliament to step down (i.e. for parliament to self-disband itself) don't help. But Solares seems to think letting a third-string president w/o a parliament, and supported only by the military, is a good idea.

Also, a note on the "Asamblea Popular" forming in El Alto to create a parallel government & demand radical nationalization: The last time that happened, was 1971. What happened next? Banzer.

Prefect election candidates

Last night was the deadline for prefect candidates, here's a quick list of the reported candidates (those accepted by the regional electoral courts). The traditional parties dominate the candidate lists (and I've not looked through the names to see if "independent" candidates formerly ran in party lists. But here they are:

  • In La Paz: José Saenz (MNR), Eliseo Rodríguez (Frente Patriótico Agropecuario), María Isabel Bustillos (MIR), Víctor Márquez (MAS), and Felipe Quispe Ramírez (PP).
  • In Santa Cruz: Carlos Dabdoub (MIR-AAC), Michiaki Nagatani (MACA), Hugo Salvatierra (MAS), Freddy Soruco (MNR-A3), Freddy Terrazas (ADN), and
  • In Cochabamba: Jorge Alvarado Rivas (MAS), Armando Ramiro Ayala García (MIR), José Alfonso Orías Arredondo (Ahora Cochabamba), Julio Carlos Quiroga Blanco (9 civic groups), and Manfred Reyes Villa (NFR + 3 civic groups).
  • In Tarija: Jaime Paz Zamora (MIR) and Julia Ramos (MAS).
  • In Beni: An MNR-MIR alliance was presented.
  • In Chuquisaca: Moisés Torres (MBL), Ricardo Díaz (MAS), Mario Oña (MIR), Edumndo Delgadillo (NFR), and Juan José Bonifaz (MNR).

No word on other departments, when (or if) the elections will take place, or what electoral formula or procedure will be used.

Posted by Miguel at 02:54 PM

Comments

Pretty slim pickings, huh? I heard that there might be a scrapping of these elections, since they could elect them at the same time as the Presidential elections. 3 months in office won't give much time to accomplish anything.

Manfred? Maybe we can have a Referendum: Do you want Manfred to just go away? Yes or No

Posted by: eduardo at June 14, 2005 07:32 PM

"Maybe we can have a Referendum: Do you want Manfred to just go away? Yes or No."

But ... he has such a fantastic pompadour!

Posted by: Miguel [TypeKey Profile Page] at June 14, 2005 07:40 PM