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The outgoing Bolivian President Evo Morales won the presidential election in the first round, according to the partial results of the electoral authority on 99.81% of ballots counted. The counting of this poll is always controversial. International institutions, such as the OAS, question certain irregularities in the electoral process.
The incumbent Bolivian President Evo Morales won the presidential election in the first round, the polling of which is controversial, according to the partial results of the electoral authority on 99.81% of the ballots counted. According to the Web page of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), the socialist president had 47.06% of the vote, against 36.52% to his main opponent, the centrist Carlos Mesa. That is a difference greater than the 10 percentage points needed to win in the first round.
The Bolivian head of state had not waited for this official result to declare himself the winner of this election. " There are still 120,000 votes to be checked. So, it's not official, official but we won, "he said, from Thursday, October 24, in the morning. At 98.35% of the votes counted this morning, Evo Morales declared himself already winner, reported our correspondent in La Paz, Alice Campaignolle . And even if he was still missing a small part of the count, the president was confident: " And I want to say that these 120,000 votes we miss, well, they come from rural areas, and so these are our support. "
►To read: Crisis in Bolivia: Evo Morales expresses himself and denounces a coup d'etat
In his speech, the current head of state again polarized both sides saying the protesters were urban citizens against the rural and indigenous vote. And he called them traitors to their homeland, because Wednesday, October 23 again, there was violence between the opponents and police.
Call for mobilization
The main opposition candidate, Carlos Mesa, who was initially expected for a second round , has called for the coming days to a permanent and peaceful mobilization to denounce the fraud.
On the international side, the Organization of American States ( OAS ) recommended, before these official results, a second round because of the extremely tense context, also because of the irregularities observed in the electoral process, in particular the stopping of the counting of votes, without explanation. convincing, Monday all day.
The European Union, meanwhile, called Thursday, October 24 for a second round of presidential elections in Bolivia " to restore confidence ." It fully shares the OAS's assessment that the Bolivian authorities should put an end to the current counting process and the best option would be to hold a second round to restore confidence and ensure respect for the choice. of the Bolivian people , "Maja Kocijancic, a spokeswoman for Federica Mogherini, said in a statement distributed in La Paz.