Evo Morales claimed victory in Bolivia’s presidential election when official effects arrived after Sunday’s high-risk review of last year’s canceled elections in which the leftist leader resigned and fled the country.
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Evo Morales won Bolivia’s presidential election as official effects stretched into Sunday in the high-stakes review of last year’s canceled vote in which the leftist leader resigned and fled the country.
More than nine hours after the polls closed, only 6% of all ballot boxes had been counted and showed Morales’ hand-picked successor, Luis Arce, behind a conservative rival.
But with a quick personal tally of sampled polling stations favoring Arce by a wide margin, even interim President Jeanine Áñez, a rival of Morales, claimed the socialist motion was ready to return to strength in what appeared to be a primary shake-up for South America. Besieged on the left.
“I congratulate the winners and ask them to govern idea in Bolivia and in our democracy,” Áñez said on Twitter.
Bolivians have long been accustomed to the initial effects on presidential elections. But after allegations of fraud and days of unrest marred last year’s election, the newly installed electoral government appealed for patience and reminded the electorate that they had up to five days to proclaim a winner.
While the vote was peaceful, Sunday night’s long wait for the effects fueled the hypothesis that something was wrong. effects
Morales broke the tense silence by pointing to Arce as the winner. Later, two pollsters said a quick count of official ballots at some polling stations showed Arce won more than 50 percent of the vote, compared with 31 percent for former President Carlos Mesa, the most sensible. finalist of 4 rival candidates.
“We have recovered our democracy,” Morales said in remarks from exile in Argentina. “Lucho will be our president.
Appearing minutes later, Arce called for calm and said he would seek to form a government of national unity.
“I think other Bolivians need to get back to the path we were on,” Arce said surrounded by a small organization of supporters, some dressed in classic Andean attire in honor of the country’s indigenous roots.
The first official effects favored Mesa, a former journalist and historian, with 49% and 33% for Arce.
Before the vote, polls showed Arce in the lead but he lacked enough votes to avoid a runoff in November, where the conservative electorate would likely have joined Mesa. To win in the first round, a candidate will have to download more than 50% of the vote, or 40% with a lead of at least 10 percentage points over the candidate who arrived at that time.
Arce, who has overseen further expansion and reduced poverty as Morales’ economy minister for more than a decade, would face an uphill war to revive the expansion this time around.
The coronavirus, which prompted the government to twice postpone Sunday’s elections, has hit Bolivia’s impoverished and landlocked country more than almost any other country in capita terms. Almost 8,400 of its 11. 6 million inhabitants have died from covid-19.
Arce also faces the challenge of emerging from the shadows of his former boss, who continues to polarize but has allowed the low-key U. K. -trained economist to mount a fake campaign.
Morales was barred from running in Sunday’s election, including for a congressional seat, and faces prosecution on what are considered trumped-up terrorism charges if he returns home. .
Bolivia, once one of the most politically volatile countries in Latin America, has experienced a rare era of stability morales, the country’s first indigenous president.
Morales, a flame breeder in his formative years who has become a prominent leader of a coca growers’ union, had been immensely popular as he oversaw an export-driven economic push. of corruption scandals.
He ignored a public vote that set term limits and participated in the October 2019 presidential election, which he claimed to have narrowly won. people.
When the police and army leaders left, Morales resigned and fled the country. Morales called his ouster a coup and an unelected conservative government has been in place ever since.
Sunday’s vote was an attempt to restore Bolivia’s democracy. All seats in the 136-member Legislative Assembly were also up for grabs and are expected to reflect the effects of the presidential race.
“Bolivia’s new legislative leaders will face overwhelming and demanding situations in a polarized country devastated by COVID-19 and hampered by endemically weak institutions,” said the Washington Office on Latin America, a Washington-based human rights organization.
Morales ruled Bolivia from 2006 to 2019 and was the last survivor of the so-called “pink wave” of leftist leaders who gained strength in South America in a commodity boom.
While outrage over corruption has fueled the resurgence of right-wing politics, especially in Brazil, Arce’s victory is sure to reinvigorate the left, whose anthem of economic justice has great appeal in a region where poverty is expected to exceed 37% this year. according to the United Nations.
In the end, Arce would possibly have benefited from overreach and a series of mistakes on the part of Morales’ enemies. Áñez, a conservative senator, proclaimed herself interim president amid last year’s turmoil and accepted through the courts. His administration, despite the lack of a majority in Congress, began to seek to prosecute Morales and his more sensible aides while canceling his policies, causing more unrest and polarization.
“Many other people said that if this is the proposed alternative, I would like to return to the existing situation,” said Andres Gomez, a political scientist based in La Paz.
Áñez abandoned her candidacy for Sunday’s presidential election because she lagged far behind in the polls. This prompted Mesa, who resigned from Bolivia after former President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada resigned in 2003 amid widespread protests.
The Trump administration, which celebrated Morales’ departure as a watershed moment for democracy in Latin America, has been more cautious when Morales’ personally chosen successor jumped in the polls. A senior State Department official said this week that the United States is willing to work with anyone Bolivians chose in a free and fair vote.
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