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Evo Morales, in the primary elections on January 27, 2019, who nominated him as presidential candidate and then buried the referendum of February 21, 2016. Courtesy of Bolivian Presidency / Handout via REUTERS

In Bolivia, February 21 is since 2016 a day of mobilization. It is indeed the anniversary day of the referendum in which the Bolivians said "no" to a change in the Constitution allowing Evo Morales to run for a fourth term. Despite this vote, the current head of state will be a candidate for the presidential election. Opponents are angry and for three years, they meet every February 21 to be heard and for, say they, that is respected democracy.

From our correspondent in La Paz ,

This February 21, 2019 - 21F - is not quite like the others in Bolivia. 2019 is indeed an election year. In October, Bolivians will vote for their future president. And among the candidates, there will be Evo Morales, while the Bolivians refused this possibility on February 21, 2016 . Evo Morales nevertheless managed to submit his candidacy after a decision of the Constitutional Court at the end of 2017.

The Electoral Court then accepted his registration as a candidate in December 2018 . And the loop is closed in January this year, with the very first primaries of the country, wanted by the government while the different parties all have a single pair President / Vice President. But for many, these primaries have been a way for Evo Morales to legitimize his highly contested candidacy.

February 21, an appointment of the opposition

Compared to previous years, we still feel less excitement, perhaps precisely because of this accumulation of decisions, primary elections, and therefore there is a certain resignation: despite the vote, despite the demonstrations, who have sometimes ended in violence, Evo Morales represents himself.

If today we may not live the usual blockages that paralyze major arteries, the various opposition groups have still launched a massive call to gather at the end of the day in all the Bolivian cities. We expect tens of thousands of people on the streets.

The election of October 2019

There are nine pairs of President-Vice-Presidents in the running. And what marks the most, eight months away from the election, is the lack of an election platform. For the moment, most of the candidates express their opposition to Evo Morales, but not a word about any proposals for the country. It is therefore over the coming months that the choice of Bolivian citizens will be forged.

The main opponent of the current president, the one who, with Evo Morales, has the best chance of winning this presidential election, is Carlos Mesa and he has a rather heavy political past: he was vice-president of a man now exiled , who fled the country after ordering the repression of a demonstration, repression that had made more than 60 dead.