Bolivia’s Acting President, Jeanine Anez, has announced that she would not contest in next month’s presidential race stating the need to consolidate votes in a bid to win a socialist candidate loyal to ousted leader, Evo Morales.
“IT IS NOT A SACRIFICE, IT IS AN HONOR,” Anez revealed in an all-caps tweet recently and announced that she and her running mate Samuel Doria, had withdrawn their candidacy in the forthcoming election “for the greater good”
She said: “Today I put aside my candidacy in homage to freedom and democracy. The stakes in this election are not small. Really, democracy is at stake in Bolivia.”
She however warned that a split vote could see a candidate from Morales’ party, the Movement for Socialism (MAS), assume office.
Recent poll conducted in Bolivia reveals that candidate Luis Arce, a one-time economic minister in the pro-Morales camp, could get over 40 percent of the vote in the October 18 election. Ex President, Carlos Mesa came second in the poll with 26.2 percent.
In order to avoid a run-off under the election law of Bolivia, a candidate must get a minimum of 40 percent of the total vote cast and maintain a 10-point lead above the runner-up. Anez, however, came far behind with over 10 percent and that explains her decision to step down and consolidate support for Mesa.
A contested election in 2019 ended up in a coup that ousted Morales and made him flee to Mexico for asylum. Ultimately, the Bolivian military requested for Morales’resignation and supported the opposition, which was also aided by support from the US and the Organization of American States (OAS), a regional bloc of Latin America based in Washington, DC and heavily bankrolled by the US government.
The opposition which majorly comprised supporters of Anez and Mesa insisted the October 2019 election was fraudulent and their claim was encouraged by an OAS report that claimed to discover “serious irregularities.”
However, many studies conducted Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s studies discovered that the claims of fraud could not be backed.
In November 2019, Anez declared herself “Interim President” despite not having a quorum in the Senate during her confirmation vote, just few days after Morales fled the country.
Anez had led a controversial campaign and came under fire for using public resources in her election bid. She was also criticised for abusing the justice system of Bolivia to “persecute” allies Morales that still residing in the country.
