[R-G] Bolivia's Morales to keep up hunger strike protest

[Anthony Fenton]

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE53C00220090413

Bolivia's Morales to keep up hunger strike protest
Sun Apr 12, 2009 8:02pm EDT

By Eduardo Garcia

LA PAZ (Reuters) - Bolivian President Evo Morales vowed on Sunday to  
continue a hunger strike now three days old until opposition lawmakers  
approve an electoral law seen helping allies of the former coca farmer  
in a December vote.

The leftist president, who says he once went without food for 18 days  
in his days as a union leader, stopped eating on Thursday to protest  
opposition efforts to block the election law in Congress.

Rightist opponents fear that the bill, which has already been  
partially approved, would give Morales an edge in the legislature by  
assigning more seats to poor, indigenous parts of the energy-rich  
country where he is popular.

"Christ gave his life for the poor, and we're here to give our lives  
for the poor," Morales, the impoverished country's first Indian  
president, told state television in an interview. He looked in good  
spirits and said he felt "rested."

Morales, a close ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, has slept  
for three nights on a mattress on the floor of the presidential palace  
surrounded by hand-written protest banners and supporters chewing coca  
leaves to ward off hunger.

The framework of the election bill was passed on Thursday, but  
Congress must still approve the details.

Morales' party has enough votes to ratify it in a joint session of the  
lower house and Senate, but the opposition is refusing to give the  
quorum needed to vote on the measure, which confirms December 6 as the  
general election date.

"Their plan is to stop the elections ... they know we can win with two  
thirds of votes," Morales said, branding his rivals "racist, fascist  
(and) selfish."

NEW CONSTITUTION

Recent polls show Morales, a fierce critic of Washington, is far ahead  
of his closest rivals for the presidency. He is popular among the  
Andean nation's indigenous majority for championing their rights since  
he took office in 2006.

The cornerstone of his pro-indigenous policies is a new constitution,  
which was approved in a referendum in January with more than 60  
percent support.

It calls for a December general election in which Morales will run for  
re-election and a new Congress will be chosen. The deadline for  
setting the ballot's date was April 9.

Congress was due to meet again late on Sunday, but some opposition  
members have said they want to negotiate specifics with the ruling  
party before attending a voting session.

During Sunday's television interview, Morales took a phone call from  
Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, who expressed his support. Morales said  
Cuba's ailing Fidel Castro had also called.

"We talked and I almost cried after hearing the voice of my comrade  
Fidel," he said.

In a concession to his critics, Morales ordered authorities on  
Saturday to compile a new electoral census. Opposition lawmakers had  
said Morales could take advantage of "flaws" in the existing census to  
commit vote-rigging.

Several opposition politicians have called Morales' hunger strike  
"political blackmail," while former President Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga  
dismissed it as "a presidential diet."

Morales said he went 18 days without eating in 1998 to protest a  
government policy on coca, the raw material for cocaine but which is  
also revered by Bolivian Indians for its medicinal and nutritional  
properties.

"We left staggering; everything looked a kind of yellow color," said  
Morales, who rose to prominence as the leader of the coca farmers'  
union.

(Editing by Eric Walsh)