LA PAZ, Oct 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Evo Morales, seeking a controversial
fourth term, led Bolivia’s presidential election race Sunday but faces a
historic second round run-off against opposition rival Carlos Mesa, partial
results announced by electoral authorities showed.
Morales had 45 percent of the vote to Mesa’s 38 percent, the Supreme
Electoral Tribunal announced, with most of the votes counted.
Elected Bolivia’s first indigenous president in 2005, Morales has won all
his previous elections in the first round, never having to contest a run-off.
The former coca farmer and leftist union leader has led the poor but
resource-rich Latin American country for the past 13 years, but his
popularity has waned amid allegations of corruption and authoritarianism.
He will face a stiff challenge from Mesa, a 66-year-old former president
who led Bolivia from 2001-2005 and has long criticized the leftist
firebrand’s rule, accusing his government of corruption.
Mesa celebrated “an unquestionable triumph” in getting to the second
round, amid cheers from his supporters at his La Paz headquarters.
South Korean-born evangelical pastor, Chi Hyun Chung, was the surprise
package of the election, polling strongly to finish in third place with 8.7
percent.
His support is likely to be influential during campaigning for the second
round on Dec 15.
Morales obtained Constitutional Court permission in 2017 to run again for
president even though the constitution allows only two consecutive terms.
A new mandate however, would keep him in power until 2025.
Bolivia’s seven million eligible voters also cast ballots to choose
members of the 166-seat congress — 36 senators and 130 deputies.
Bolivia’s 2009 constitution, promulgated by Morales himself, limits a
president to two consecutive terms of office.
In a 2016 referendum, voters defeated Morales’ bid to secure public
support to remove term limits, but his government rejected the result.
The constitutional court, stacked with Morales loyalists, ruled it was his
right to seek re-election. — NNN-AGENCIES
