Evo Morales edges closer to victory
Leader accuses rivals of coup attempt
LA PAZ: Bolivian President Evo Morales edged early yesterday to the threshold he needs for an outright victory in his re-election bid after accusing his opponents of trying to stage a coup against him amid protests over the disputed and slow-moving vote count.
While votes remained to be counted, the leftist leader stood at the exact 10 percentage-point margin over his closest rival required to avoid a runoff ballot in December in which he could risk being defeated by a united opposition in his bid for a fourth consecutive term in office.
As the clock ticked into a new day, the official vote count moved him to a 10-point lead, with just under 2% of the votes from Sunday’s election still to be counted. He led former President Carlos Mesa 46.76% to 36.76%.
Mr Morales’ percentage creeped up on Wednesday although the number of votes counted had barely advanced since mid-afternoon, when authorities said the process had been hampered because of attacks on vote-count centres in three regions.
Mr Mesa warned of fraud and international vote monitors expressed concern at an earlier unexplained daylong gap in reporting results before a sudden spurt in Mr Morales’ vote percentage. Opposition backers continued to stage rowdy protests since the vote, while Mr Morales’ backers staged a march in the capital to show their support for the president.
Mr Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous president and the region’s longest-ruling leader, repeated his claim that he won outright and said his opponents were conspiring to oust him.
“I want to denounce to the people and the world that a coup d’etat is underway,’’ Mr Morales said at a news conference at which he did not take any questions. “The right wing has prepared it with international support.’’
Mr Morales did not specify where the alleged international support for the coup is coming from, but he regularly rails against US imperialism in Latin America. He cited the burning by protesters of electoral offices in two cities where votes are being tallied as proof of the coup. Protesters also burned ballots in a third city.
“We are waiting for a report from the Electoral Tribunal, although the TREP (a quick count) has already said that we won,’’ the president said.
The tribunal’s quick count webpage, whose results are not binding, showed Mr Morales with a 10.1 percentage point lead over Mr Mesa, with about 96% of polling place counts verified on Wednesday.
“If there is anyone who breaks the constitutional order it is Evo Morales,’’
Mr Mesa said later in the day. “It’s clear that there’s a gigantic fraud going on.’’
Opposition leaders have called on Bolivians to defend “the citizen vote and democracy’’ in the streets against suspicions of fraud by Mr Morales’s party.
Suspicions of electoral fraud rose when officials abruptly stopped releasing results from the quick count of votes hours after the polls closed on Sunday with Mr Morales topping the eight other candidates, but also falling several percentage points short of the percentage needed to avoid the first runoff in his nearly 14 years in power.
Yet, the president claimed an outright victory late on Sunday, telling supporters that the votes still to be counted — largely from rural areas where he is most popular — would be enough to give him an outright victory.
Twenty-four hours later, the body suddenly released an updated figure, with 95% of votes counted, showing Mr Morales just 0.7 percentage point short of the 10-percentage point advantage needed to avoid a runoff.