Bolivia: interim president Jeanine Añez renounces the presidential election
Interim President Jeanine Añez announced Thursday, September 17 that she was withdrawing her candidacy for the Bolivian presidential election.
PRESIDENCIA / AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
While the presidential election will take place in just a few weeks in Bolivia, the outgoing president announced Thursday, September 17 that she was giving up her candidacy.
A decision that could be a game-changer on October 18.
Publicity
Read more
With our correspondent in La Paz,
Alice Campaignolle
Thunderclap on the Bolivian political scene:
Jeanine Añez, the interim president
, in office since November 2019, will ultimately not stand for the presidential election which will take place in just a month, on October 18.
“
Today I am giving up my candidacy for the presidency of the country to defend democracy.
It is not a sacrifice but an honor.
I take this decision in tribute to the struggle of the Bolivian people against the dictatorship.
If we don't unite, Morales will come back,
”Jeanine Añez said in an announcement to the nation on Thursday where she explained her decision.
Indeed, the last opinion poll, published this week, gave the candidate of the Movement towards Socialism (MAS), the party of Evo Morales, winning in the first round with more than 40% of the votes cast.
And it is these figures that were right for the candidacy of the current head of state.
According to the survey, Jeanine Añez only obtained 10% of the vote.
However, the slogan of the interim president is “everything except the return of the left to power”.
By this withdrawal, the Bolivians who wanted to give him their vote will therefore refer to other candidates, perhaps
Carlos Mesa,
the main competitor to the MAS, who would thus have more weight to face the first party of Bolivia and its candidate Luis Arce.
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Bolivia
On the same subject
Bolivia: roadblocks increase against another postponement of elections
Bolivia: protests against the interim government and the postponement of the elections
Coronavirus: Bolivia declares a state of "public calamity"