SUCRE, Bolivia, March 21 (NNN-TELESUR) – The Bolivian Plurinational Electoral Body (OEP) announced on Tuesday that the date for the 2019 General Elections has been established for Oct. 20.
“The reason for this date is that elections in Argentina and Uruguay are also being held on Oct. 27. This makes it difficult for us to organize technically and logistically, as in many cases we have the same precincts and polling stations, and we want to guarantee the right to vote for our citizens residing in those countries”, explained President of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) María Eugenia Choque.
After the primary elections took place on Jan. 27, a preliminary date was for Oct. 27, yet the arguments to change it was presented and agreed upon during a coordination meeting in Cochabamba between the members of the TSE and the nine Departmental Electoral Courts (TED) from Bolivia.
“We have agreed to work intensely in the organization of the electoral process, we want to standardize our processes at the national and international level with the goal to obtain the Electoral ISO and provide certainty to the population about the proper handling of the Election,” added Choque.
During this electoral process, Bolivians will elect their president and vice-president, 130 legislators and 36 senators for the period 2020-2025. President Evo Morales is leading the polls for the presidential elections that will take place in the Andean country. Morales is polling with 35.6 percent, whereas the main opposition candidate, and former president, Carlos Mesa, is trailing behind at 30.5 percent.
The Tal Cual company carried out the survey between the 14th-19th of February with the participation of 1,815 people over 18 years old, in the nine capitals of the Bolivian departments and also the city of El Alto. According to the poll, there is over a 5 percent gap between the leading candidates, which are Evo Morales of the ‘Movement Towards Socialism’ (MAS), Evo Morales, and Carlos Mesa of the Community Citizen Party (CC).
