Sunday, December 6th, 2009

By J.R. Claeys

Voters exit the polls after voting in La Pax, Bolivia. Voters exit the polls after voting in La Pax, Bolivia.

The streets of La Paz have filled with Morales loyalists. We were outside the presidential palace when Morales emerged to declare victory. The early results were possible due to the electronic voting system that was used at the polls. The final official results will be known late tonight.

It is not surprising that the people of La Paz are happy about the outcome. La Paz is a stronghold for pro-Morales forces. Voting is also very regional in this country. The lowlands and the south are more likely to oppose Morales. We will see the voting breakdown tomorrow.

Election Day in La Paz, Bolivia was very quiet. Voting is compulsory, otherwise turnout may have been extremely low. The outcome was known at 3:00, but for many the outcome was known after polling showed Morales winning by a wide margin.

Bolivian police guard polling places on election day. Bolivian police guard polling places on election day.

The quiet streets were attributed to a law that prohibits public and private transportation on election day and a law that makes illegal walking in groups of more than four. These laws come from a history of fraud, where parties would ferry the same voters from polling place to polling place to vote multiple times under different names. Protests and violence on election day in the past prevents formation of groups of more than four in public places.

The voting centers are dispersed, much like in the United States where polls are located in government buildings and schools. This is a sharp contrast to the observation mission in El Salvador earlier this year where polls were located at large fairgrounds.

The voting process went smoothly at the polling place. Individuals entering were registered appropriately and there were few instances of people turned away for improper documentation. I was impressed with the technology being used to combat voter fraud. Countries like this, where fraud is a part of their history, provide a great opportunity to see how government can give the people a reason to finally believe that their vote will count.

Tomorrow we will report our findings from the elections observation. There is little doubt that the systems functioned properly and the process worked well at the polling places. Being prevented from entering the country and then being detained in Santa Cruz hurt our efforts to fully understand and observe the registration systems and the battle between the courts and the Morales government.

» Photo Gallery: Elections Observation Mission