Evo Morales accepted MAS defeat in polls in four departments of Bolivia and called emergency meeting

Former President of Bolivia Evo Morales recognized this Monday the defeat of the Movement for Socialism (MAS) by ballot in four departments and will call an emergency meeting, while opposition leaders said the election result reflects rejection of corruption and persecution.

The result of the second electoral round in the departments of La Paz, Tarija, Pando and Chuquisaca forces to summon a “Emergency meeting” to evaluate “why, what happened and what to doMorales assured during the celebration of a union anniversary in the tropical region of Cochabamba, its main political stronghold.

The departments of La Paz, Tarija, Pando and Chuquisaca went to the polls again, with no candidate reaching more than 50% of the vote or more than 40% with ten points behind the second most voted candidate in the subnational elections last March. 7.

Three of the nine departments

The MAS lost ground in the main regions and only managed to stay in the first round with three governorates (Cochabamba, Oruro and Potosí) out of the nine into which the country is divided, and with only two of the ten main cities, Sucre, the Bolivian capital, and Oruro.

For this ballot, the party of Morales and the current Bolivian president, Luis Arce, I expected to win in at least three other governorates.

The result of this Sunday’s election “that leaves a lot to be desired“,”i hope we can win” But “I think we lost in the four departmentsMorales said.

The former president recalled that the new regional political map looks like that of 2005, the year in which the departmental governors still called prefects were elected for the first time, when the MAS obtained three positions and six others were in the hands of the opposition.

Opponents celebrate

“I congratulate Governors-elect Santos Quispe, Regis Richter, Damián Condori and Óscar Montes. La Paz, Pando, Chuquisaca and Tarija have clearly expressed their rejection of corruption, abuse, persecution and discrimination“Said the former president Carlos mesa and leader of the main opposing force.

“With democracy, we must fight for autonomy and growth“, He added.

For its part, Luis Fernando Camacho, the governor-elect of the department of Santa Cruz, the economic engine of the country, declared that “voters were not intimidated by their confrontational messages and the blackmail that if they did not vote for MAS they would not receive resources, vaccines or jobs“.

The former civic leader and who is one of the main defendants in the so-called “coup” case, for which the former interim president Jeanine Áñez was detained a month ago, stressed that with the results of this Sunday’s elections ”Democracy wins, loses abuses and authoritarianism of MAS and Luis Arce’s government“.

“The people around Morales are looking for people who are available to them. The population does not like taxes. The people have become disenchanted with some of the actions of Evo Morales, ”said the former president of the Senate and elected mayor of El Alto, Eva Cup.

Poll winners

Once 100% of the minutes counted, Óscar Montes, of the Unidos por Tarija party, won with 54.44% over Álvaro Ruiz, candidate of the MAS, remained with 45.56%.

In the department of La Paz, Santos Quispe, of the Jallalla alliance, leads the count with 56.43% over Franklin Flores, of the MAS, who obtains 43.57%, scrutinizing 78.23% of the minutes.

Damián Condori Herrera, from Chuquisaca Somos Todos, also leads the count with 59.95%, ahead of MAS candidate Juan Carlos León with 40.05%, representing 88.5% of the vote.

And Pando Regis Richter, of the third movement of the system (MTS), leads with 56.16% over Miguel Becerra, of the leader of the MAS, with 43.84%, when the tally reaches 88.92%.

For its part, the observation mission of the Union of Electoral Organizations of America (Uniore) stressed this Monday in a preliminary report that the ballot took place peacefully, that the vote count was nimble “in less than 24 hours after the end of the election day, around 70% of the minutes have already been counted” and the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) has adopted all measures to ensure that the elections will run safely.

Bolivia thus closes a complex electoral cycle after the political crisis of 2019, which changed the schedule and resumed its course in October 2020 in the general election, in which Evo Morales was unable to participate for the first time, and which gave Luis Arce the presidency as the winner.

(With information from EFE)

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