Latest news with #LaPaz
Washington Post
10 hours 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
10 hours 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.
Arab News
a day ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Bolivia justice minister accuses Morales of ‘terrorism' over road blockades
LA PAZ: Bolivian Justice Minister Cesar Siles accused ex-president Evo Morales of 'terrorism' on Thursday for allegedly ordering his supporters to cut off supplies to La Paz after he was banned from contesting August said the government had filed a complaint against Morales for 'terrorism, public incitement to crime and attacks on the security of public services,' among other crimes, over the campaign of road blockades that has paralyzed central Bolivia since of the former president – who served from 2006 to 2019 – began blocking roads leading to La Paz, the seat of government, over the electoral authorities' refusal to allow Morales to run for a fourth term in August 17 protests have since snowballed into a wider revolt over President Luis Arce's handling of a deep economic crisis, marked by severe shortages of hard currency and of the protesters have called on Arce, an ally-turned-foe of Morales, to resign.A leaked audio message on Thursday appeared to capture Morales calling on his supporters in the country's agricultural heartland to shut down two key roads leading to La government reported more than 40 blockades nationwide on Thursday, which the minister of economy said were causing daily losses of $100 to $150 30 police officers have been injured in clashes with protesters since the beginning of the week, according to Gabriela Alcon, deputy minister of 65, was barred by the Constitutional Court from seeking re-election but attempted in vain to register as a candidate last faced a similar situation in November 2019 when the government of right-wing president Jeanine Anez accused him of 'sedition and terrorism.'Morales had allegedly called on supporters to maintain blockades which caused food and fuel shortages in La is also wanted on charges of human trafficking over his alleged sexual relationship with a minor while in has firmly rejected the charges as a case of 'judicial persecution.'
Reuters
2 days ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Bolivia's Rodriguez back on ballot in presidential race, Morales still out
LA PAZ, June 5 (Reuters) - Bolivian Senate leader Andronico Rodriguez is eligible to run in the nation's presidential elections later this year, a constitutional court confirmed on Thursday, while former President Evo Morales remains out of the running. Rodriguez, a leftist leader who has received backing from current President Luis Arce, had difficulties registering his party in the race. Morales, meanwhile, is constitutionally barred from running, though he has called for his supporters to take to the streets to demand his eligibility.
Free Malaysia Today
30-05-2025
- General
- Free Malaysia Today
20 nabbed, officers hurt as Morales supporters clash with cops in Bolivia
Protesters threw stones and firecrackers during clashes with Bolivian police today. (AP pic) LA PAZ : Twenty people were arrested and three officers were injured in Bolivia today after supporters of former president Evo Morales, who has been barred from running for office again, clashed with law enforcement, police said. Demonstrators have been pushing for the indigenous leader to be allowed to participate in August elections, urging electoral authorities in La Paz to act despite a court ruling barring him from taking part and the fact that the May 19 registration deadline has passed. Today, Morales's supporters threw stones and firecrackers at police, who responded with tear gas, according to images broadcast by local media. Police chief Roger Montano told reporters that 20 people were arrested and three officers were injured in the confrontations. Tensions mounted today after a representative of the Bolivian National Action Party (Pan-Bol), which backs Morale's candidacy, was prevented from entering the supreme electoral tribunal to present the party's list of candidates. Officials say Pan-Bol failed to register Morales's candidacy on deadline through a designated digital platform, but the party insists they sent their application before deadline via email. The supreme electoral tribunal does not consider that a proper submission. Morales, one of Latin America's longest-serving leaders, governing in three periods until he resigned under a cloud in 2019 after seeking to extend his 13-year grip on power. He was barred from running for office again after the constitutional court in 2023 upheld Bolivia's constitutional two-term limit, which Morales previously managed to evade.
