In 95 of the country’s 342 municipalities, it won with averages ranging from 90% to 98% of the vote. In La Paz, it won in 85 of the 87 municipalities, in Cochabamba it only lost in Colcapirhua.
In the rural area, it was overwhelming. Only in the capital cities did it suffer: it lost in six. In Oruro, it won in all the municipalities. In La Paz, it lost in only two of the 87 municipalities. In Cochabamba he was defeated in only one, as well as in Chuquisaca and Pando. In Potosí, the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) won in 39 of the 41 municipalities and in Tarija in seven of the 11.
Even in the department of Santa Cruz the MAS binomial raised its black-blue flag in 64% of the municipalities. This means that it won in 36 of the 57.
Only in the department of Beni did it not exceed 50% of the municipalities it won. It won in nine of the 19 municipalities, equivalent to 47%. Even so, there it was the political party that won more municipalities than its opponents: Comunidad Ciudadana (CC) won in eight municipalities and Creemos in two.
In La Paz, the only municipalities where the blue party lost were Nuestra Señora de La Paz and Chulumani, the latter in the South Yungas province. In Cochabamba, it only lost in the municipality of Colcapirhua, in Quillacollo province, where CC won, although by less than two points.
In Potosí, it only lost in Porco, in the province Antonio Quijarro, and in the capital city. And in Chuquisaca, was only defeated in the city of Sucre, where CC won. But it won in the remaining 28 municipalities.
In the department of Pando, the only municipality where MAS was defeated is San Pedro, in the province of Manuripi, where Creemos won with nearly 43%. Even there it took second place, with just over 35%. In the other municipalities of that province, Philadelphia and Puerto Rico, the MAS also won.
With more than 90%
But these were not narrow victories, but broad ones that Luis Arce’s party achieved in more than nine dozen municipalities in the country, especially in the departments of La Paz and Cochabamba. In Bolivia, in 95 municipalities – representing almost a third of the 342 – it won with averages above 90%. In 80 municipalities, on the other hand, he won with more than 80% of the votes in each of them.
In 29 municipalities in the country he won with more than 70% of the votes on average. In another 29 municipalities he won more than 60% of the electoral preference and in 42 municipalities he won more than 50% of the votes. In the rest of the municipalities (less than 20%) he obtained percentages lower than 50%. But, he won.
Almost 100% of the votes
There are municipalities in which he got very close to 100% of the votes. In the department of La Paz, in the municipality of San Pedro de Curahuara he got 96% of the vote, in Catacora he got 95.38%, in Puerto Pérez 95.52%, in Yaco he won with 95.38%; in Luribay with 95.20% and in Palca with 95.64%. In another 40 municipalities of this department it achieved percentages of between 90% and 94%.
In the department of Oruro, the highest scores were obtained in the municipalities of Pampa Aullagas (95.03%), Caripuyo (94.94), Choquecota (94.72%) and Totora (94.50%). However, it was in the electoral seat of Orinoca that MAS obtained the highest score, scoring 99.38% of the votes. Of the 835 people who voted there, 829 voted for the MAS, five for CC and one for the FPV.
Orinoca is a small community that belongs to the municipality of Santiago de Andamarca in the province of Sud Carangas in the department of Oruro. It is in this municipality where Evo Morales was born, and where he endorsed the construction of a museum in its honor, which receives very few visitors because it is remote: 185 kilometers from the city of Oruro.
In Potosi, the municipality that gave the most votes to MAS is Arampampa, with 96.79%; San Antonio de Esmoruco, with 95.92%; Caripuyo, with 94.94%; Toro Toro, with 94.47%; and San Pedro de Macha, with 94.29% of the votes.
But the municipalities that gave him almost 100% of the votes are those of Cochabamba. The highest scores were obtained in this department. In the municipality of Raqaypampa he obtained 99.22% of the votes. The other parties did not receive a single vote. In the municipality of Tacopaya he obtained 98.08% of the votes; in Tapacarí 98.01%; in Arque 97.89%; in Entre Ríos 97.86; in Villa Tunari 97.82; in Pojo 97.50%; in Sicaya 97.59%, in Cocapata 97.57%; and in Morochata 97.37%.
The other department where he obtained percentages above 90% is Chuquisaca. Poroma gave him 92.19% of its votes and San Lucas 90.52%.
There are municipalities where the other parties did not get a single vote, as in some of the seven special districts, where the blue party won in all of them, and in most with votes above 90%.
In another 80 municipalities in the country, the blue party won over 80% of the votes, and in 58 mayoralties it obtained between 50% and 70% of the votes of the electorate.
Highlands, valleys and the east
In the three departments of the altiplano and the three departments of the valley, MAS won in 241 municipalities and only lost in 10. In other words, it won in 96% of the municipalities of La Paz, Oruro and Potosí; Cochabamba, Chuquisaca and Tarija.
In the three eastern departments, the MAS won in 60 of the 91 municipalities, which is equivalent to almost 66% of the municipalities in that region of the country where it also planted its blue flag.
At the global level, the MAS won in 301 municipalities of the country and lost in 41. In other words, almost nine out of every 10 municipalities in the country were painted blue on Sunday, October 18.
Voting abroad
MAS also gained a huge advantage abroad over their opponents. Although the Luis Arce and David Choquehuanca duo won in only five of the 29 countries where Bolivians were able to vote, they achieved 68.95% of the votes abroad, thanks especially to the votes in Argentina and Brazil.
Of the more than 162,000 valid votes on Sunday the 18th, more than 84,000 of those votes are in Argentina and more than 26,000 in Brazil, countries that are bastions of masismo.
And in Argentina, where the MAS binomial received the support of the government of that country, 88.14% of the votes went to the party of Evo Morales.
In Brazil, which accounts for 16% of the votes abroad, 86.29% of the votes went to the MAS binomial.
Although the other parties, especially CC, won in 24 of the 29 countries, it had no impact on the result of the overseas vote, because almost seven out of every 10 overseas voters are in Argentina and Brazil.
In addition to these two countries, MAS won in Chile, India, and Cuba. In the rest, it lost.
As in several municipalities in Bolivia, in Argentina the MAS won over even 80% of the votes.
Translation by Internationalist 360°
INTERNATIONALIST 360° 