Bolivia’s Morales claims win
Follows disputed vote count, protests
LA PAZ: Bolivia’s Evo Morales was officially declared the outright winner of presidential elections on Thursday after a disputed vote count that triggered violent protests and furious allegations of fraud from the opposition.
The United States, European Union and Latin American countries responded to the result, which would hand Mr Morales a fourth successive term, by calling for a run-off vote to restore trust and confidence in the electoral process.
With 99.99% of the ballots counted, the country’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) declared Mr Morales had secured 47.1% of the vote, against 36.5% for his closest rival Carlos Mesa — just scraping past the 10 point margin of victory required for an outright win.
The Organisation of American States (OAS) had expressed concern over the vote count, which first showed Mr Morales and Mr Mesa headed for a runoff, before shifting dramatically on Monday to give the president a wider lead.
The European Union said on Thursday it shared the OAS assessment “that the best option would be to hold a second round to restore trust and ensure the full respect of the democratic choice of the Bolivian people”.
Violent protests have raged all week, and fresh clashes broke out on Thursday between supporters of both sides in Santa Cruz, the economic capital and opposition stronghold.
Offices in the city housing Bolivia’s electoral authority were set on fire overnight, as security forces clashed with demonstrators in La Paz and elsewhere.
The new mandate means Mr Morales, already Latin America’s longest-serving president, will remain in power until 2025.
He stood for a fourth successive term despite Bolivia’s constitution limiting presidents to two consecutive mandates.
Mr Mesa accused Mr Morales’s party, the Movement for Socialism (MAS), of “electoral fraud” after it declared Mr Morales the winner before official results were announced.
Speaking at a rally in La Paz earlier on Thursday alongside centre and right wing parties as well as business leaders, Mr Mesa called for a second round and urged his supporters to maintain pressure in the streets.
On Wednesday he said he would not recognise results tallied by the tribunal, which he accused of manipulating the count to help Morales win. The TSE has been heavily criticised for its conduct of the count process, including by its own vice-president, who resigned.
The governments of the United States, Brazil, Argentina and Colombia all called on Bolivia’s government “to restore credibility in its electoral system” by allowing a second round run-off.
The US State Department updated its travel alert for Bolivia, urging “increased caution ... due to civil unrest”.
On Monday, after the release of partial election results showed Mr Morales just ahead of Mr Mesa, mobs torched electoral offices in Sucre and Potosi, while rival supporters clashed in La Paz.