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The article discusses A consequential contest: Elections are a chance to restore peace to a bitterly divided country. Topics include Joan Fernandez joined thousands of Bolivians in protests that toppled the socialist government of Evo Morales, used the justice system to go after her rivals and flubbed the government's response to the pandemic and the plaza is decorated with flags from rival political parties, a loudspeaker announces free rabies jabs.

The article provides an overview of the issues dividing the people of Bolivia, focusing particularly on the policies of President Evo Morales. Issues covered include hunger strikers protesting the number of votes the constituent assembly needs to approve articles, the autonomy of Bolivia's four eastern provinces, current economic conditions, and the redistribution of land, gas, and other natural resources. Whether or not Morales is prepared to accept any checks on his power is also discussed.

This article discusses the social effects of voting in Bolivia. Public support will decide how much Bolivian president Evo Morales can "refound" the country on more collectivist lines. To do this, he is counting on a Constituent Assembly to be elected on July 2, 2006. These assembly members are supposed to draft a new constitution. This election will provide the next sign of where Morales's revolution is heading. On the same day, Bolivians will vote on a demand for more regional autonomy.

The article discusses how the survival of Bolivia's government, and foreign investment in the country, turns on approval of an oil and gas referendum. Last October, a popular uprising led by radical leftist groups ousted Bolivia's president, Gonzalo S& aacute; nchez de Lozada, at a cost of 59 dead. The vice-president, Carlos Mesa, took over the top job, and is trying to steer a disgruntled country riven by ethnic tension until the next election in 2007. In a referendum, Bolivians will be asked what they want to do with their oil and gas wealth--the issue that served as a catalyst for protest last October. Bolivia is the poorest country in South America. But thanks to foreign investment in exploration, it now has the continent's second-largest gas reserves outside Venezuela. The radicals who led last October's protests want to renationalise the oil and gas industry, largely privatised by Mr Sánchez de Lozada in an earlier term in the mid-1990s. If the referendum is defeated and Mr Mesa falls, renationalisation of the industry might follow. Approval would be a less bad outcome. But already, uncertainty has caused foreign investment in Bolivia to plunge.

The article notes that a semblance of normality has returned to Bolivia after a month of protests and road blocks by miners, peasants and workers. They achieved one of their objectives: 19 months after similar protests had toppled the elected president, his ineffectual successor, Carlos Mesa, resigned. Bolivia's Congress swore in as a caretaker Eduardo Rodrí guez, the head of the Supreme Court, who will probably hold an early general election. The protest leaders also want to nationalise Bolivia's oil and gas industry and convene a constituent assembly. But the events of the past month are far from having been a democratic rebellion. The poorest have suffered most from the blockades, and would suffer again from nationalisation. Most Bolivians, fed up with the blockades, are likely to support moderate figures. The new government should uphold the law and keep the roads open.

Discusses the trade which occurs in the Brazilian town of Corumba, where Bolivians flock twice monthly to swap their dollars for cruzeiros and buy all the Brazilian goods they can afford. Ways that leaders of Latin America are encouraging regional trade.