Evo Morales Socialist wins Bolivia Presidential election a year after Evo Morales himself was ousted

[lpetrich]

Luis Arce presumed winner of Bolivia presidential election | Latin America | Al Jazeera - "Rival concedes as Evo Morales’s party celebrates big comeback that could further polarise the nation"
Bolivia’s Luis Arce says ‘no role’ for Evo Morales in new gov’t | Latin America | Al Jazeera - "Morales remains president of Arce’s party, but Bolivian president-elect says influence will be limited to that position."

From the first link:

Jubilation and disappointment took over the streets of Bolivia on Monday, after unofficial counts showed Evo Morales’s party sweeping the country’s presidential election without the need for a second round of voting.

After 11 months of political turmoil that bitterly divided the nation, two independent surveys late on Sunday showed Luis Arce, the candidate for Morales’s Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) party, with more than 50 percent of the vote – well above the second place centrist rival Carlos Mesa, who had slightly over 30 percent, and far more than the requirements to avoid a runoff.

“The result is overwhelming and clear,” Mesa said in a concession speech on Monday. “The difference is wide.”

“It is up to us, those who believe in democracy, to recognise that there has been a winner in this election,” he said.

Observers said the results showed a clear rejection of the right-wing policies of the interim government of Jeanine Anez, a conservative senator who took office after Morales was ousted from power a year ago. Late on Sunday, Anez conceded and congratulated the winners.

What happened a year ago?

Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous leader, was an iconic, popular figure during his 14 years as president. But he angered many Bolivians after insisting on running for a fourth term in office, in defiance of a referendum against extending term limits. His administration was also marred by allegations of corruption and overreach of power.

Anez, who declared herself interim president promising swift new elections, sought to consolidate her grip on power and announced her own bid for the presidency, after initially saying she did not plan to run.

She brought trumped-up terrorism charges against Morales, and clamped down on MAS officials and supporters – prompting allegations of human rights violations by rights groups, and further fuelling polarisation in the country.

Her administration has also been accused of corruption and mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic – a disease that has killed at least 8,481 people in Bolivia.

She dropped out of the race last month.

Who is Luis Arce?

Arce, who served as economics minister under Morales for more than a decade, oversaw policies that led to a surge in growth and a sharp reduction in poverty. Now, amid a pandemic that twice delayed the election, he is likely to face an uphill battle trying to reignite that growth.

...
The results give MAS majority control in the Senate, as well as in the Chamber of Deputies – ample power to govern and pass legislation.

“We have to recognise the figure of Evo Morales as a very important leader of our recent history, and he will remain so,” Penaranda said, “and although his popularity suffered a bit during his third term in office, he remains strong and is a motor of the MAS, clearly.”

From the second link, about Evo Morales:

“He will not have any role in our government,” Arce told Reuters at the MAS headquarters in Bolivia’s administrative capital La Paz.

“He can return to the country whenever he wants because he’s Bolivian … but in the government it’s me who has to decide who forms a part of the administration and who does not.”

A divisive former coca grower who is lauded by some for improving the fortunes of the poorest in one of South America’s most impoverished countries, Morales has lived outside Bolivia since he fled last year following a vote shrouded by allegations of fraud. Morales disputes the allegations and says he was toppled in a right-wing coup.

Morales also faces a raft of corruption allegations, which he has denied.

Bolivia, like France and many other countries, uses a two-round or two-two-runoff system for electing its President. If no candidate wins a majority in the first round, then the top two candidates go head to head in a second round.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

America is so much better. We are #1. These Banana Republics are completely hopeless, always ruled by politicians who refuse to give up power. They would rather have blood in the streets than concede.

After 11 months of political turmoil that bitterly divided the nation, two independent surveys late on Sunday showed Luis Arce, the candidate for Morales’s Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) party, with more than 50 percent of the vote – well above the second place centrist rival Carlos Mesa, who had slightly over 30 percent, and far more than the requirements to avoid a runoff.

“The result is overwhelming and clear,” Mesa said in a concession speech on Monday. “The difference is wide.”

“It is up to us, those who believe in democracy, to recognise that there has been a winner in this election,” he said.

Wait...what?

 

[lpetrich]

Guillaume Long on Twitter: "As we honour coup victims in Bolivia, I want to thank @AOC for her leadership. She was one of the few in the US Congress to denounce the coup and she passed legislation that banned the US from sending weapons and crowd control equipment to the Añez regime: (links)" / Twitter

Text - H.R.7608 - 116th Congress (2019-2020): State, Foreign Operations, Agriculture, Rural Development, Interior, Environment, Military Construction, and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act, 2021 | Congress.gov | Library of Congress

SEC. 9013.

None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be obligated or expended to transfer lethal military equipment or crowd control equipment to Bolivia.

 

[Derec]

Bad day for Bolivia. But I guess HL Mencken is right yet again.