NourNews – Bolivia – With 53 % of votes in favor and a difference of 20 points over the second most voted, Luis Arce, the candidate of the political party of Evo Morales surpassed Carlos Mesa Gisbert who obtained the second place with 31.2% of the votes and forty points over Luis Fernando Camacho, the third most voted with 14.1 % of the votes in favor.
The presidential elections in Bolivia were held on October 18 after a de facto government at the hands of Yanine Añez, after the last elections that had given Evo Morales the winner.
After a series of demonstrations organized among others by the leader of right Fernando Camacho, The de facto government had presented a new vote counting system that generated much controversy since it is the Preliminary Results Dissemination System (Dipre) that allowed access to the results almost instantaneously but as there were complaints of possible manipulation of the votes the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, TSE, decided to suspend it, since they do not want to generate uncertainty in Bolivians in a “climate of high polarization.”
The Electoral Regime Law in the South American country establishes that to win the elections the candidate for president and vice president must obtain more than 50% of the valid votes cast or 40% of those votes, but must surpass the second most voted candidate with the 10% of the votes.
The TSE will be the entity in charge of disseminating the results with the winning candidates for the presidency, vice-presidency, senators, deputies and supra-state representatives.
MAS triumphs in Bolivia
Finally the first hours of Monday, the preliminary results were announced. With 53 % of votes in favor and a difference of 20 points over the second most voted, Luis Arce, the candidate of the political party of Evo Morales surpassed Carlos Mesa Gisbert who obtained the second place with 31.2% of the votes and forty points over Luis Fernando Camacho, the third most voted with 14.1 % of the votes in favor.
Although these are extraordinary figures, this shows the support of the Bolivian people for the MAS after having suffered a violent de facto government, which they strongly resisted.
This confirms that there was an operation aimed at preventing the triumph of the MAS, by the right in the 2019 elections. Endorsed by the right-wing Latin American governments, the complicit silence of international organizations.
The attempts of the United States and its allies to intervene in the elections can no longer be hidden, but Bolivia once again demonstrated that the people are resisting.
Although the final results will be obtained in a week, the victory of this October 18 allows the Bolivian people to return to Palacio Quemado and also controlling both houses of parliament. A victory that will bring with it a great regional and international impact, this Sunday the people triumphed.
by Valeria Rodriguez
