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It was an electoral victory that not even leftist Bolivians could have dreamed of. In the first round of the elections, the leftist candidate Luis Arce is likely to have beaten his opponents by far, and with a difference of more than ten percentage points from the second ranked person, a second round of elections is unnecessary. . The left-wing government of the neighboring country cheered: “It is an act of justice,” Argentine President Alberto Fernández wrote on Twitter, and meant nothing less than the Bolivian people’s response at the polls.
For the first time in a year, people were able to vote, because a year ago, President Evo Morales resigned under pressure from street protests and the military and fled abroad. At that moment, his followers spoke of a blow. His opponents pointed out that Morales himself, by ignoring the constitution and the referendum, had also, in some way, carried out a coup in order to remain in power long after the legal term allowed.
At that time, supporters and opponents of Morales fought in street battles, and in the end there were repeated attempts to intimidate the opponent with roadblocks. Election observers, including the EU, also warned of violence on election day.
Peaceful sunday
That was not fulfilled, everything was different: it was a quiet Sunday, in which Bolivians – with “massive participation”, as the authorities say – went to the polls. And it brought an electoral result that very few expected clear. Morales’ charisma had recently faded, but his successor, Luis Arce, has apparently been re-trusted. The then Minister of Economy von Morales leads after a poll of voters late Sunday night (local time) with 52.4 percent of the vote, followed by the liberal candidate and former president Carlos Mesa with 31 , 5 percent. In third place was the leader of the far-right citizen committee Luis Fernando Camacho with about 14 percent of the vote.
The count should take several days. However, Arch-Conservative Acting President Jeanine Anez also said that, based on available data, Arce had won. She congratulated him on Twitter. The 57-year-old man presented himself as the future head of state in the politically divided country. “We will work for all Bolivians and we will form a government of national unity,” Arce said.
From his exile in Mexico, Morales spoke of a “resounding” victory for the left-wing MAS party. “We have been back a million times, now we are giving people back their dignity and freedom.”(wake)
