The president of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal in Bolivia, Salvador Romero, has announced that the country will now hold its rerun election on Sunday, the 3rd of May 2020. Both presidential and parliamentary elections will be held on the same day.

Why A Rerun is Happening

The election held in October was disputed by Bolivia’s right-wing faction and sparked violent street protests that led to the death of about 30 people and the resignation of the country’s first indigenous president, Evo Morales, who was in power for 14 years.

He was asked by the military commander, General Williams Kaliman, to resign and he did so on the 10th of November 2019. After this, he fled to Mexico before moving on to Argentina where he has been granted political asylum.

Who is Morales’ Likely Successor?

Morales will not be standing as a candidate for his Movement for Socialism (MAS) coalition in the next election but has identified Luis Arce Catacora, his former economy minister, and Andronico Rodriguez, a coca farmer union boss, as potential MAS presidential candidates.

Four other candidates have also officially stated their intention to run for the presidency. Luis Fernando Camacho of the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement; Carlo Mesa of Civic Community; Chi Hyung Chun of Christian Democratic Party and Felix Patzi of Third System Movement. Andronico remains the most popular candidate in Bolivia’s forthcoming presidential election and continues to lead in the preliminary polls.

In Bolivia, the president is elected using a two-round voting system where a candidate is declared the winner if they receive more than 50% of the votes, or over 40% of the votes and are 10 percentage points ahead of their closest rival. If neither of these is the case, a run-off election is held between the two top candidates.