Latest news with #BoliviaElections
Washington Post
4 days ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Bolivia reinstates a leftist challenger but keeps former leader Morales off the ballot
LA PAZ, Bolivia — Bolivia's electoral tribunal on Friday included leftist Senate leader Andrónico Rodríguez on the list of presidential candidates approved for the ballot but excluded the powerful former socialist leader Evo Morales — the other major thorn in the president's side. As tensions escalate in the run-up to Bolivia's Aug. 17 elections, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal reinstated Rodríguez, a 36-year-old political upstart with close ties to Morales and roots in the ex-president's rural coca-growing stronghold, weeks after suspending his candidacy on technical grounds in a decision that shocked many Bolivians . 'We are the candidate of the people,' Rodríguez said in a speech welcoming the revival of his campaign. 'Our primary concern has been to wage the legal battle, and in the end, the power of the people had to prevail.' With the ruling Movement Toward Socialism party, or MAS, riven by dysfunction and division over President Luis Arce's power struggle with his former mentor , Morales, supporters of the senate leader see him as the only chance for MAS to beat the right-wing opposition and salvage its decades-long political dominance. President Arce, widely blamed for accelerating Bolivia's worst economic crisis in 40 years, dropped out of the race last month. Opinion polls show that his pick for the presidency, senior minister Eduardo del Castillo, has inherited the president's unpopularity. Arce's government insists that its main rival, Morales, is constitutionally barred from running. Morales accuses Arce of waging a 'judicial war' against him. In leaving out Morales, the tribunal opened the potential for further turmoil: Morales has called on his supporters to take to the streets to demand his eligibility. Over the last week his followers have blockaded some of the main roads around the country, adding to a sense of crisis as merchants and truckers rise up in outrage over surging food prices and severe fuel shortages. Morales, who governed Bolivia from 2006 to 2019, has been holed up in the country's tropics for months , surrounded by fiercely loyal coca-farmers, as Arce's government seeks his arrest on charges relating to his sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl. A constitutional court filled with judges beholden to Arce has disputed the legality of Morales' fourth candidacy and barred him from the contest. 'The constitutional court acts like a sniper ... restricting and enabling electoral participation upon request,' he said in response to his disqualification. 'The order is clear: Hand over the government to the right and legitimize the election with negotiated candidates who will protect their backs.' Morales, whose own loyalists packed the same court when he was president, points to an earlier court ruling that paved the way for his 2019 presidential campaign, that said it would violate his human rights to stop him running. Morales' bid that year for an unprecedented fourth term ultimately sparked mass protests and led to his resignation and brief self-exile. The conservative opposition to MAS is also fractured, with at least three right-of-center candidates vying for the presidency and no clear frontrunner. All of them are little-known abroad but well-known within Bolivia, where they have run for president or served in government in the past: Jorge 'Tuto' Quiroga, former president from 2001-2002, Samuel Doria Medina, a former cement tycoon and planning minister, and Manfred Reyes Villa, the mayor of Bolivia's major central city of Cochabamba. Quiroga and Doria Medina promoted privatizations of state-run companies in the 1990s before MAS took over.
Associated Press
4 days ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
Bolivia reinstates a leftist challenger but keeps former leader Morales off the ballot
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivia's electoral tribunal on Friday included leftist Senate leader Andrónico Rodríguez on the list of presidential candidates approved for the ballot but excluded the powerful former socialist leader Evo Morales — the other major thorn in the president's side. As tensions escalate in the run-up to Bolivia's Aug. 17 elections, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal reinstated Rodríguez, a 36-year-old political upstart with close ties to Morales and roots in the ex-president's rural coca-growing stronghold, weeks after suspending his candidacy on technical grounds in a decision that shocked many Bolivians. 'We are the candidate of the people,' Rodríguez said in a speech welcoming the revival of his campaign. 'Our primary concern has been to wage the legal battle, and in the end, the power of the people had to prevail.' With the ruling Movement Toward Socialism party, or MAS, riven by dysfunction and division over President Luis Arce's power struggle with his former mentor, Morales, supporters of the senate leader see him as the only chance for MAS to beat the right-wing opposition and salvage its decades-long political dominance. President Arce, widely blamed for accelerating Bolivia's worst economic crisis in 40 years, dropped out of the race last month. Opinion polls show that his pick for the presidency, senior minister Eduardo del Castillo, has inherited the president's unpopularity. Arce's government insists that its main rival, Morales, is constitutionally barred from running. Morales accuses Arce of waging a 'judicial war' against him. In leaving out Morales, the tribunal opened the potential for further turmoil: Morales has called on his supporters to take to the streets to demand his eligibility. Over the last week his followers have blockaded some of the main roads around the country, adding to a sense of crisis as merchants and truckers rise up in outrage over surging food prices and severe fuel shortages. Morales, who governed Bolivia from 2006 to 2019, has been holed up in the country's tropics for months, surrounded by fiercely loyal coca-farmers, as Arce's government seeks his arrest on charges relating to his sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl. A constitutional court filled with judges beholden to Arce has disputed the legality of Morales' fourth candidacy and barred him from the contest. 'The constitutional court acts like a sniper ... restricting and enabling electoral participation upon request,' he said in response to his disqualification. 'The order is clear: Hand over the government to the right and legitimize the election with negotiated candidates who will protect their backs.' Morales, whose own loyalists packed the same court when he was president, points to an earlier court ruling that paved the way for his 2019 presidential campaign, that said it would violate his human rights to stop him running. Morales' bid that year for an unprecedented fourth term ultimately sparked mass protests and led to his resignation and brief self-exile. The conservative opposition to MAS is also fractured, with at least three right-of-center candidates vying for the presidency and no clear frontrunner. All of them are little-known abroad but well-known within Bolivia, where they have run for president or served in government in the past: Jorge 'Tuto' Quiroga, former president from 2001-2002, Samuel Doria Medina, a former cement tycoon and planning minister, and Manfred Reyes Villa, the mayor of Bolivia's major central city of Cochabamba. Quiroga and Doria Medina promoted privatizations of state-run companies in the 1990s before MAS took over.
Washington Post
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Bolivia's electoral court bans ex-leader Morales and suspends a key a candidate, drawing backlash
LA PAZ, Bolivia — Bolivia's top electoral court on Tuesday disqualified iconic former President Evo Morales from running for president and suspended the other main leftist contender from taking part in the August elections. The decision targeted the two strongest leftist challengers to President Luis Arce's governing socialist party : Morales, Bolivia's first Indigenous president who governed the country from 2006 until his ouster in 2019, and Andrónico Rodríguez, the young Senate president.
Associated Press
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Bolivia's electoral court bans ex-leader Morales and suspends a key a candidate, drawing backlash
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivia's top electoral court on Tuesday disqualified iconic former President Evo Morales from running for president and suspended the other main leftist contender from taking part in the August elections. The decision targeted the two strongest leftist challengers to President Luis Arce's governing socialist party: Morales, Bolivia's first Indigenous president who governed the country from 2006 until his ouster in 2019, and Andrónico Rodríguez, the young Senate president. Condemning the moves as a blow to the Andean nation's fragile democracy, Morales and Rodríguez accused Arce's government of using the country's court system against them. 'We have been persecuted,' Morales, who still commands fervent support in his tropical highland stronghold, told a local radio show. On social media, he voiced alarm over 'the grave threat facing democracy today.' 'It is time to unite to confront the country's true enemies: The economic crisis and the abuse of power,' he wrote. Morales has previously vowed to 'convulse' Bolivia with protests if he is barred from the race, heightening a sense of crisis in the run-up to the deeply polarized vote. Rodríguez — a fresh-faced 36-year-old candidate who generated excitement among voters disillusioned with Morales' fifth presidential bid and outraged with Arce's handling of Bolivia's worst economic crisis in 40 years — called for protests against what he called 'a political decision' to suspend his candidacy. 'No ruling or judicial decision driven by political interests can overrule the sovereign will of the people,' he wrote on X. The Supreme Electoral Court gave narrow, technical reasons for the decisions as the window closed for candidates to register their political parties. A power struggle between Morales and his former ally and finance minister, President Arce, has fractured their dominant Movement Toward Socialism party, or MAS, forcing Morales to break off and create his own political party. Arce, whose popularity has plunged as inflation surges and fuel shortages paralyze the country, dropped out of the race last week and nominated his senior minister, lawyer Eduardo del Castillo, as the MAS party candidate. A stern-faced lawyer and loyalist of Arce who oversaw police crackdowns on anti-government protests over the last year, Del Castillo has struggled to summon the kind of support enjoyed by Morales and Rodríguez. In the opposition, infighting among centrist and right-wing parties has left the anti-MAS movement without a clear frontrunner to seize on what could otherwise be its first real shot at victory in almost two decades of socialist rule. According to the list published Tuesday by the Supreme Electoral Court, the successfully registered opposition candidates include Samuel Doria Medina, 66, a former cement tycoon notorious for his multiple unsuccessful presidential bids. There's also Jorge 'Tuto' Quiroga, who promoted market-friendly reforms as president from 2001-2002 after serving as vice president to the late military dictator, Hugo Banzer. Morales' disqualification, though controversial, had been expected. His recently formed political faction, 'Evo Pueblo,' lacks official party status, the electoral court said, while an allied party that planned to host his candidacy failed to meet other legal requirements. Even as Morales continued to insist on the legitimacy of his candidacy, a divisive ruling by the Constitutional Court that bans citizens from running for more than two presidential terms also complicates his path back to the presidency. Some analysts see that ruling — made by Arce-allied judges that interfered in judicial elections to extend their own terms — as emblematic of how the judiciary in Bolivia has been undermined by political wrangling. 'Arce benefitted from the rapid deterioration of the already weak justice system, failed to enact desperately needed reforms and manipulated the courts to his advantage,' said Kathryn Ledebur, director of the Andean Information Network, a Bolivian research group. 'This lack of due process and rule of law make the upcoming elections a free-for-all with an unpredictable, unsustainable outcome.' More surprising was the court's decision to suspend Rodríguez's candidacy pending a hearing on the legality of his political alliance. A first court session is scheduled for Wednesday. The new constraints on the leftist candidates also drew criticism from officials within the Supreme Electoral Court itself. 'I alert the country and the international community that the democratic system is being put at risk by legal actions that seek to affect the normal development of the elections,' wrote Francisco Vargas, a member of the electoral body. ___ DeBre reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina. ____ Follow AP's coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at
CNN
17-05-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Supporters of Bolivia's ex-leader Morales clash with police in push to secure his candidacy
Hundreds of supporters of ex-President Evo Morales marched toward Bolivia's top electoral court on Friday to push for their leftist leader's candidacy in presidential elections later this year, a rally that descended into street clashes as police tried to clear out a group of demonstrators. The confrontations come in response to a ruling by Bolivia's Constitutional Court that blocks Morales, the nation's first Indigenous president who governed from 2006 until his ouster in 2019, from running again in Aug. 17 elections. The turmoil escalates political tensions as Bolivia undergoes its worst economic crisis in four decades. As the march arrived in Bolivia's capital of La Paz, protesters seeking to register Morales' candidacy surged toward the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, chanting, 'Comrades, what do we want? For Evo to come back!' Security forces barricading a road to the court held them back. Police reported that the clashes between rock-throwing protesters and tear gas-lobbing police forces injured two officers, a journalist and a local merchant. 'They're using firecrackers and rocks that are hurting our forces,' said police Commander Juan Russo. 'This is not a peaceful march.' The authorities did not report on any injuries among the protesters, who were seen being pushed onto the ground, shoved into police cars and blasted with tear gas. Morales had promised to attend the march Friday but did not show up. The court's unanimous decision Wednesday upheld an earlier ruling that bans presidents from serving more than two terms. Morales has already served three, and, in 2019, resigned under pressure from the military and went into exile as protests erupted over his bid for an unprecedented fourth term. Morales returned to Bolivia a year later as the 2020 elections vaulted to power his preferred candidate, President Luis Arce, from his long-dominant Movement Toward Socialism, or MAS, party. Arce, who announced earlier this week that he would not seek re-election, insisted that the Constitutional Court had disqualified Morales, his mentor-turned-rival, from running in 2025. But many experts doubt the legitimacy of that decision in a country where political conflicts undermine the courts and presidents have maneuvered to get their allies on the bench. 'The Constitutional Court issues unconstitutional arbitrary rulings at the whim of those in power,' said Morales, who himself reaped the benefits of favorable judges while seeking to run for a fourth consecutive term in 2017. After Morales lost a referendum seeking to do away with term limits while still in power, the Constitutional Court ruled it would be against Morales' human rights to stop him from running for another term. That 2017 ruling allows Morales to register his candidacy, said Oscar Hassentoufel, the president of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal. 'Then the tribunal will decide whether he's eligible or not.' In defiance of the latest court ruling, Morales called a mass march that marshaled his loyal supporters in the rural tropics. They long have championed the Indigenous coca-grower for transforming the country during his tenure — redistributing Bolivia's natural gas wealth and seeking greater inclusion for its Indigenous majority. Although he had earlier promised to participate, it appeared that Morales remained holed up in his stronghold for fear of arrest on human trafficking charges that he claims are politically motivated. The government confirmed that fear Friday. 'We ask Mr. Morales to surrender voluntarily,' said Eduardo del Castillo, a key minister in Arce's government whom the MAS party endorsed for president later Friday in place of Arce. 'If we find him walking the streets, we will arrest him.' Instead, scores of his supporters walked the capital's streets on Friday wearing masks of Morales' face. 'Evo Morales is each and every one of us. If they want to detain Evo Morales they would need to take every one of us, too,' said David Ochoa, a representative of the marchers.
