Elections in Bolivia: who is Eva Copa, the woman who broke up with Evo Morales and who this Sunday could take her main bastion

More than 7 million Bolivians go to the polls again this Sunday to elect by vote to the governors of the nine departments and to the mayors of the 336 municipal administrations, including that of the city of El Alto, the second most populous in the country and the historic electoral stronghold of the MAS of Evo Morales, which could eventually be ceded to the former President of the Senate Eva Copa, who recently left the former president due to candidate conflicts.

“My departure from the MAS has no return “, repeated the young woman Aymara on several occasions during the tense electoral campaign of El Alto, considered by political analysts as possible biggest political phenomenon of the elections of this Sunday and as one of the potential rivals of Morales’ party in the presidential elections which will take place in five years.

Until 2019, Eva Copa was a very discreet senator of the MAS and almost unknown in the country. It is with the departure of Evo Morales and with the start of the provisional government of former President Jeanine Añez that his figure has become more public and relevant, since She was elected president of the Senate, when the most important leaders of masism left the main public offices, took refuge or left the country.

At this critical stage in Bolivian political life, 15 months ago, Eva Copa was sworn in as President of the Senate and her figure was essential in agreeing with the transitional government on the call for new presidential elections and the temporary pacification of the country. that he was convulsed by the resignation of Evo Morales before the end of his term, following a 21-day protest over allegations of electoral fraud.

The MAS senator then entered the scene and was seen to make the transition viable, the call for new elections, the acceptance of the resignation of Morales and the pacification of the country, with the executive and legislative powers.

During this period shaken by a deep political crisis, Eva Copa has also become a factor of opposition and resistance to the transitional government of Jeanine Añez, while there was the possibility of an extension of the provisional term due to postponements of the elections due to the coronavirus pandemic. Like Evo Morales and MAS, Copa has also blocked credits obtained by the Añez government, such as that of the IMF, in the Senate. Copa then complained of a lack of coordination of powers due to the arbitrary attitudes of the president and her collaborators, and denounced the judicial political persecutions. The Senator also supported the campaign of current President Luis Arce and since becoming visible as MAS renewal leader, she has already started to emerge as a possible candidate of this party for mayor of El Alto, the city in which she lives and in which she represented in the Senate.

With the MAS’s return to power and the start of Luis Arce’s term in office, the Copa entered the pre-election race, along with dozens of other candidates from his party for mayor of El Alto.

Despite showing herself as the masista candidate with the greatest popular support in El Alto, she failed to be chosen to run for mayor of El Alto by the MAS. With the support of Evo Morales, the one nominated to be the candidate was the leader of the Aymara union and peasant Zacarías Maquera.

This decision was the factor of contention that produced the Cup’s break with Morales and the leadership of the MASTherefore, he decided to quit the party and accept the invitation of the Jallalla group, whose candidate for governor was the late Aymara leader Felipe Quispe, one of those who always contested with Evo Morales the support of indigenous popular nationalism in Bolivia.

From partner to adversary

Eva Copa emphatically explained that Her departure from MAS was due to actions by the MAS leadership who she said captured former President Morales after returning from his asylum in Argentina.. For their part, the Masist leaders decided their expulsion, while the former president questioned what he considered “a betrayal” of the former senator Copa. Other MAS leaders threatened her with legal action and accused her of supporting the transitional government. Copa’s response was to reject these versions.

During the campaignAt least five polls have anticipated a large victory for Eva Copa in the El Alto mayoral election, with at least 80% of the intention to vote, which would give her absolute power. In contrast, support for Maquera, who is Morales-backed MAS candidate, did not reach 10% in the city’s voting intention, which gave the former president and Luis Arce a vote. always above 70%.

Morales’s leadership as president has always relied on the broad support the people of El Alto have given him and which was repeated in the vote last October, which the government returned to MAS, along with Luis Arce as the new president.

Against this backdrop, Evo Morales himself actively joined the home stretch of the Masista campaign in El Alto, but the preference in the polls was largely oriented towards the Copa.

Complains about the “dirty guera”

Former senator and now candidate Jallalla protested angrily in the latter part of the campaign for the “dirty war” of her former political leader, since they even accused her of receiving funding from the American embassy and of representing right-wing opposition parties.

Although some political analysts consider that Eva Copa could become the biggest electoral phenomenon this Sunday and, as a result, be the MAS competition option in the future presidential elections of 2025She says she only looks at the present, which is victory in the El Alto mayoral contest.

“In these elections, the most notable will be the birth of a new political option from the same field of popular nationalism, which was in the hands of the MAS, but which can have a competition like Eva Copa. On the other hand On the other hand, the opposition still does not have a strong alternative, ”commented political scientist Carlos Saavedra.

For other analysts like Marcelo Silva, the Copa’s biggest weakness in becoming a national political option for the future is that Jallalla is an emerging party structure, unlike the MAS, which remains strong.

Eva Copa is a 34-year-old professional trained as a social worker at the Public University of El Alto, where she was a student leader. At 27, she joined the MAS and was elected senator from La Paz.

In this Sunday’s elections, some opposition leaders, such as Manfred Reyes Villa, candidate for mayor of Cochabamba, are also vying for great chances of being elected as regional authorities. Luis Fernando Camacho, candidate for governor of Santa Cruz. Former President Jeanine Añez, candidate for governor of Beni, is another of the political figures vying for the election.