The President of Bolivia, Evo Morales, has claimed victory in the just concluded presidential election held in the country on the 20th of October. However, his victory was greeted with violent protests across the country, a scenario which is reminiscent of the protests against his bid to contest for the presidential seat for the fourth consecutive term.
What Went Wrong in this Election?
Among the nine presidential aspirants, Morales was declared the winner with 47.08 per cent of the votes. His closest rival, Carlos Mesa received 36.51 per cent of the votes according to official results released by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) of Bolivia.
The percentage point lead President Morales has over Mesa means that the election will not head to a run-off. According to Bolivia’s electoral law, a presidential candidate must receive more than 50 per cent of the vote or lead by ten points in order to avoid a run-off.
The election was marred with reports of vote-rigging after an unexplained 24-hour halt by the TSE in the release of results on election night when it appeared as if the election was headed to a second round.
According to the BBC: “Hours after polling booths closed on Sunday, electoral officials released the first results of the quick count that suggested the race was close and a second-round vote would need to be held.
The official website then stopped updating for 24 hours. When it finally resumed, [President] Morales had a lead of more than 10 percentage points.”
The controversy surrounding the results has led to widespread accusation of vote tampering and violent protests where electoral offices have been torched. A general strike has also begun.
Confidence in the electoral process further plummeted when Antonio Costas, then-vice president of the TSE resigned. According to reports, his grounds for resigning was “the erroneous decision by the TSE to suspend publication of the results of the Preliminary Electoral Results Transmission system (TREP),” which “triggered the discrediting of the entire electoral process, causing unnecessary social upheaval.”
What Now?
The Organisation of American States (OAS) and the European Union have expressed concerns over the election, backing calls for a run-off to be held between President Morales and Mesa. Similarly, the United States, Brazil, Argentina and Colombia joined in calling for a run-off election.
Still, President Morales has ignored calls for a run-off opting, instead, for an audit of the election. To this end, President Morales reportedly said he will “invite the foreign minister of Argentina, the foreign minister of Brazil, the Foreign Minister of Colombia plus the United States to come let us do an audit vote by vote. If there is fraud we will convene a second-round.”
There is the fear that President Morales may not accept the result of such an audit if it does not favour him. In 2016, President Morales defied the result of a constitutional referendum which prevented him from running for re-election.
Nonetheless, many are hopeful that an election audit will quell the protests in Bolivia.
