GUE/NGL President Gabi Zimmer has congratulated Bolivian President Evo Morales on his election win.

She said: “We send our congratulations to President Morales and the Movimiento al Socialismo. We are delighted that he will begin a third term in office. These elections are testament to his policies: strengthening of education and social policies and investing in public services and infrastructure projects. He has helped raise hundreds of thousands of Bolivians out of poverty.

“Under his leadership the oil, gas, mining, telecommunications and water sectors have all been nationalised so that the profits benefit the majority of the population. European leaders who push for evermore privatisation could do with taking a lesson from Morales' Bolivian model.”

Morales also pushed through a constitutional reform package which not only grants more regional and local autonomy to the indigenous majority but also redefines Bolivia as a multi-ethnic and pluri-cultural nation.

GUE/NGL MEPs Javier Couso (United Left, Spain) and Sofia Sakorafa (SYRIZA, Greece) travelled to Bolivia for the elections – both MEPs sit on the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (EUROLAT). Sofia Sakorafa is also President of the Delegation for relations with the countries of Central America, and Javier Couso is Vice-President of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament.

GUE/NGL Press Contacts:
Emily Macintosh +32 470 85 05 08
Gay Kavanagh +32 473 84 23 20
European United Left / Nordic Green Left
European Parliamentary Group