Bolivia voted in the second round for the governors of …

Citizens residing in four departments of Bolivia voted to elect their governors in elections that will ultimately shape the regional power of the Movement for Socialism (MAS) and the weight of the opposition.. The elections went off without incident, under strict biosecurity measures and amid warnings from health services for a resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic in the country. On Sunday evening, the count began at a very slow pace. By law, all four departments have one week to announce final election winners. Unlike the first round, this time there weren’t even any exit polls.

La Paz is the electoral center most appreciated by its population and its political weight. Tarija, rich in natural gas, is the second scenario of electoral interest. Pando and Chuquisaca, on the other hand, they have few voters. In the four departments, the MAS presented chances to the candidates during this ballot. The other five departments of the country (Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, Oruro, Potosí and Beni) already have governors: three remained in the hands of the MAS and two went to the opposition in the first round of March 7.

Just like last month, President Luis Arce did not attend the inauguration of the electoral process due to the presence of observers from the Organization of American States (OAS). “We have said it and we maintain our position: we are very critical of the role that the OAS played in the coup d’état of November 2019,” said the president.

At the opening of the elections, the president of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), Salvador Romero, he assured: “We haven’t overcome all of our problems or the polarization that pulls us apart, but we have overcome the disturbing voices of violence.” The regional vote constitutes “the closure of an electoral cycle which spanned from 2020 to 2021 and which involved the renewal of all political power in Bolivia”, added Romero.

Much of the attention of this second round is on La Paz, where the dispute opposes two Aymara: Franklin Flores from MASand Santos Quispe, son of the late Felipe “Mallku” Quispe, who was originally the candidate for governor of the Jallalla group. flowers comfortably won the first round, garnering 39.7% of the vote while Quispe added 25.18 percent.

Chuquisaca department promises close fight Because the indigenous leader Damián Condori, from Chuquisaca Somos Todos (CST), won 45.62% of the vote in March against 39.12% for the Masista Juan Carlos León. Meanwhile, in Tarija and Pando, the numbers from four Sundays ago were extremely par: Álvaro Ruiz, of MAS, won with 38.17% against 38.05% for Oscar Montes, of Unidos. por Tarija, in the first of these districts. MAS’s Miguel Becerra got 40.98% and Regis Richter, a former mass leader now in the MTS ranks, 38.98% in the second.

In the first round, the MAS had taken over the governorates of Cochabamba, Oruro and Potosí, while In the department of Santa Cruz, one of the main instigators of the coup against Evo Morales, Luis Fernando Camacho, won, of the right-wing party We believe. Meanwhile in Beni, Alejandro Unzueta, of the Third System Movement (MTS), triumphed. In addition In the city of El Alto, historic bastion of the MAS, the former president of the Senate Eva Copa, expelled from the party, remained at the town hall with the Jallalla group.