Elections in Bolivia: The return of Evo Morales to power?
On Sunday, October 18, the general elections for president, vice president and the total renewal of the Legislative Assembly (Congress) were held in Bolivia. The event has been classified as the most important since the return to democracy in 1983, with significance both for the Andean-amazonian country itself, and for Latin America, considering the current trend in the continent towards the right-wing of governments, which also includes the United States. However, the resurgence of the left in Mexico and Argentina cannot be ignored. However, the resurgence of the left in Mexico and Argentina cannot be ignored.
Almost one year ago exactly, elections were held in Bolivia, but were annulled after significant electoral fraud was discovered. The official result of the Plurinational Electoral Tribunal (TEP) gave victory to Evo Morales and his party, the leftist Movement for Socialism (MAS) in the first round, but this result was not accepted by the population that through massive demonstrations throughout the country and with the endorsement of the Police and the Army, forced the president to resign and flee the country. His resignation was joined by the vice president and the entire chain of “masista” presidential succession, causing a dangerous power vacuum.
As a result of these events, the Legislative Assembly, in the absence of the governing party's assembly members, resolved to temporarily hand over the presidency to Jeanine Áñez, second vice president of the Senate, who, being from the opposition, had not resigned, with the express mandate to call elections in the shortest possible time. The political turnaround was radical and characterized by ruthless persecution of former ministers and MAS leaders.
The great mistake of the interim president was to be delighted with power and declared herself a candidate for president for the elections that she herself had to call, encouraged by her party and the extreme right. However, no one was counting on the coronavirus pandemic that soon began to hit Bolivia mercilessly, rapidly collapsing precarious health services throughout the country and forcing a strict quarantine that lasted more than 90 days, devastating the economy of the vast majority of families and of the country as a whole, with the consequent discontent and anguish of the population. The elections, scheduled for the month of May, had to be postponed, initially until September and then October, not without first having to face strong protests that, in the midst of the pandemic, paralyzed the country.
By the time the esteemed reader has these lines, the official and final results of these historic elections will surely be known; At the moment, only those of the pollsters who collected the data in the form of exit polls are available and that represent up to 95% of the total votes. With these data, the victory of the MAS candidates,
Luis Arce Catacora and David Choquehuanca, who would have achieved more than 50% of the vote, is outlined so overwhelming that it will be very difficult to reverse it. So much so that several governments, including that of the United States, and even the candidate Carlos Mesa of the Citizen Community (who was emerging as a sure winner in a second round) have recognized and congratulated the ticket skillfully chosen by Evo Morales himself.
Is Evo Morales back?
It seems not. The president-elect has already declared in the campaign that his intention is to redirect the process of change that began during the first and second term of the MAS government, and subsequently distorted under the influence of the group that surrounded Evo Morales. On the other hand, there are important sectors within the social movements that traditionally supported the “masista” government, who blame the former president for having insisted on his fourth nomination, despite the referendum that denied him, and that caused the fall of last year, leading to the establishment of an extreme rightwing government.
The democratic vocation of the Bolivian people once again manifested itself with the massive participation in the elections, despite the fear of the pandemic. A peaceful transition from the government to the winners and a time of stability in the constantly convulsed Bolivian politics is expected.