President Evo Morales announced on Sunday that he would convene new elections in Bolivia, where the contestation of the 20 October polls, which led to his re-election for a fourth term, has been steadily gaining momentum for three weeks. . Faced with the extreme tension that now crosses the country, Evo Morales, 60, preferred to accept what he refused to consider so far.
"I decided to renew all the members of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE)," he said during a televised speech, announcing that he "would call new elections that will, by voting, the Bolivian people to democratically elect new authorities ". "This decision, I call to lower the tension, all must pacify Bolivia," he said. Evo Morales did not specify whether he would run for the new elections and did not specify the dates on which they would be held.
Will Evo Morales be a candidate?
Shortly before, the Organization of American States (OAS) had demanded the cancellation of the presidential election of October 20, tainted by fraud according to her, and asked the convening of a new ballot, as soon as the guarantees would be provided for its smooth running , "in the forefront of which the composition of a new electoral body", by allusion to the TSE.
The 20 October ballot resulted in the re-election of Evo Morales, a left-wing indigenous leader, who has been in power since 2006, for a fourth term until 2025. Such a fourth term had, however, been rejected by referendum. February 2016. His score announced by the TSE, exceeding by more than ten points that of the centrist Carlos Mesa, was immediately described as fraudulent by the opposition.
Three dead and 200 wounded for three weeks
Evo Morales announced on Sunday that the Parliament, where he has the majority, would meet "in the coming hours" so that the Bolivian parties could define the means to renew the TSE and make it a forum free from criticism, both inside and outside. The committees of civil society that have multiplied in recent weeks in the country and originally held public meetings last week have asked that neither Evo Morales nor Carlos Mesa, are standing for a new election.
Signs of a worsening of the situation had increased in recent hours, with mutinies of police units and the occupation of state media by protesters. The wave of protest that has shaken the country for three weeks has left three dead and 200 wounded.