BOLIVIAN PRESIDENT WENT ON 3 DAY FASTING

Bolivian President Evo Morales (L) talks with a health care medic at the presidential palace in La Paz, Bolivia, for the second day of hunger strike on April 10, 2009

LA PAZ : As Bolivian President Evo Morales went into the third day of his hunger strike Saturday, he still called for the parliament's approval of the electoral law.
Morales, who began his hunger strike on Thursday, was in "optimum" health condition though he has lost some weight, Ramiro Tapia, Bolivia's health minister, was quoted as saying by Bolivia's ABI News Agency.
The president was waiting for the parliamentary approval of the law which "is essential for holding elections at the year end," Tapia said.
In an ABI photo, the president, in smile, was sitting at one ofthe halls of the Quemado Presidential Palace with some followers who had also joined the hunger strike.
Morales announced the hunger strike after Bolivia's opposition-led Senate failed to approve an electoral reform law, a move which, as Morales and his supporters claimed, was against the people's will. But the opposition said the bill would benefit Morales's reelection bid as it would give more seats to minority indigenous groups, among whom Morales enjoys remarkable popularity.
Recent polls showed that Morales would far lead his closest rivals if a presidential race was held now.
Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president, Saturday defended his hunger strike move as an effort to seek power for the people rather than for himself.
Courtesy: Xinhua