"We won in the first round," Bolivian President Evo Morales said at a press conference on Thursday (October 24th). The head of state, candidate for re-election, said that the official count on 98% of the ballots gave him a lead of more than ten points over his opponent Carlos Mesa: 46.83% of the vote against 36.7%.
The Bolivian president, however, left the door open for a possible second round if the final results went in this direction. "If we do not win with 10 percentage points difference, we will respect" the result, "if we have to go to the second round, we will go," he said.
Following these statements, the website of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) maintained a partial count of 98.35% of ballots and gave Evo Morales 46.38% of the vote and Carlos Mesa 37.03%, with a difference of less than ten points.
A ballotage: "the best solution" according to the OAS
On Wednesday, Carlos Mesa said he would not recognize the results of the TSE, which he accuses of being manipulated to favor the outgoing president. For two days, suspicions of fraud have sparked protests and clashes between pro and anti-Morales throughout the country.
The election observation mission of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Bolivia, for its part estimated Wednesday that the "best solution" would be to declare a ballot between the two candidates.
With AFP