Evo Morales and the Altiplano: Notes for an Electoral Geography of the Movimiento al Socialismo, 2002—2008

In: Latin American perspectives, Band 37, Heft 3, S. 91-106

Abstract

Without a doubt, the surprising electoral performance of the Movimiento al Socialismo (Movement Toward Socialism—MAS) and of its leader, Evo Morales Ayma, between 2002 and 2008 has transformed the Bolivian political landscape. Its activity has changed not only the physical hub of the country's politics but also the practices of local political culture and philosophies of power building. A spatial-analytical description of the MAS electoral results and a breakdown of the vote into its various components reveals that the nucleus of its support began in the Chapare of Cochabamba, where Morales has become a true icon of the original Andean world, and that the middle-class urban sectors of the lowlands view him as the purest example of "Andean imperialism." Given the 2008 results, there were few doubts that he would win by a landslide in the December 2009 elections, and there is no immediate danger to the MAS's political hegemony.