Morales faces voter rebellion from members of his own indigenous tribe

Bolivian President Evo Morales’ crushing defeat in Sunday’s regional elections puts him in a position where he will have to negotiate with two members of his own Aimara indigenous community, after they won key races for the opposition.

Félix Patzi and Soledad Chapetón were able to capture a large protest vote from various indigenous sectors, who are fed up with the ruling party’s proposals. Patzi and Chapetón were elected, respectively, governor of La Paz and mayor of El Alto – two strongholds of Morales’ Movement toward Socialism (MAS) party.

It is the first time since 2006 that Bolivia’s opposition won stunning victories, especially in La Paz 

It is the first time since 2006 that the Bolivian opposition has won such stunning victories, especially in La Paz, where a large Aimara community is based.

Other opposition candidates took the governorship of Tarija and the mayor’s race in Cochabamba.

Part of the success attributed to Patzi and Chapetón has been their own profiles – they are both professional workers and live in an urban environment but remain connected to indigenous culture and ideology.

They both avoided a direct confrontation with Morales during the election but instead concentrated on attacking their own rivals.

Both candidates avoided direct confrontation with Morales but instead attacked their rivals

While they recognized some of the economic and social advances made under Morales, who was elected to a third term last year, they also criticized the fact that these achievements were not enough to provide the type of welfare families need, or argued that they have been inadequately tapped by local community leaders.

Both winners have asked President Morales, who has a 70-percent approval rating, to work closely with them. Not trusting them and believing they could sabotage his programs, the Bolivian leader said he would.

Specifically, Morales doesn’t trust Chapetón, who belongs to the National Unity (UN) Party, which is headed by his former presidential rival last year, Samuel Doria Medina. Considered a liberal, Chapetón campaigned on a platform of creating more economic opportunities for start-up businesses and self-employed artisans of El Alto. She will become the city’s next mayor.

For his part, Patzi has proposed “a third system” as an alternative to capitalism and socialism. It is inspired on the collective economic and social relationships that dominated during the pre-Colombian era.

But similar to Morales, he has no difficulty combining rhetoric with ideas for development to attract voters. For example, he spoke about building an electric train to link the Andean cities of La Paz and El Alto.

Patzi, who will assume the governorship in La Paz, had been a member of MAS until he was expelled after police arrested him for driving while intoxicated.

Demonstrating his strong indigenous roots, Patzi, a former education minister under Morales, accepted a punishment by his tribe to build 1,000 adobe homes with his own hands.

Patzi ran on behalf of a leftist Sovereignty and Freedom party that was once allied with MAS, but he surprised everyone during the campaign when he announced that he will run for president in the next elections and will “become Evo’s successor.”