Evo Morales won Sunday's presidential election in Bolivia after the first round of voting, according to data released on Thursday (October 24th) by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) on its website. The main opposition candidate Carlos Mesa, however, rejected the results.

After counting 99.99% of the votes, the incumbent president is credited with 47.07% of the votes, against 36.51% for Carlos Mesa. He therefore has ten points in advance to be elected in the first round.

Carlos Mesa said on Thursday night that he rejected the results of the presidential election and called on his supporters to continue demonstrating until the official results were published. The opposition candidate, who accuses Evo Morales of electoral fraud, said this week await the formalization of the holding of a second round.

Anger on the street

Earlier in the day, the Organization of American States (OAS), which dispatched observers to La Paz for the polls, recommended a second round after the TSE unexpectedly suspended screenings on its site when a second trip between Evo Morales and Carlos Mesa was profiled after counting 84% of the ballots.

When the TSE resumed its count on Monday, Morales was given the lead with a margin above the 10 percentage point mark needed to be elected in the first round, resulting in incidents in several polling stations and clashes between protesters and security forces. 'order.

Thousands of Bolivians have expressed their anger in the streets of the capital for what they see as an attempt by Evo Morales to rig the results of the presidential election, while the electoral commission was stripping the latest newsletters of vote.

"Serious doubts"

Evo Morales, in power since 2006, claimed victory again on Thursday. He described his main rival as "criminal" and prided himself on OAS observers who expressed "serious doubts" about the electoral process. The Socialist leader, who is seeking a fourth term, accused the right-wing opposition of fomenting a putsch.

The protest movement is the biggest challenge faced by Evol Morales, who has led the country to unprecedented economic prosperity but has drawn criticism for defying the results of the 2016 national referendum on the limitation of the presidential office two terms.

With Reuters