LA PAZ, Jan 29 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Bolivian presidential candidate Luis Arce, who is running for the leftist Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) party, returned on Tuesday to Bolivia to start the campaign for the general elections to be held in May.
Arce was met at the airport by scores of supporters and his running mate David Choquehuanca. Both served under ex-president Evo Morales, Arce as economy minister and the latter as foreign affairs minister.
He was also scheduled to meet the members of the MAS party serving in the Plurinational Legislative Assembly Tuesday afternoon.
However, moments after Arce flew to Bolivia from neighboring Argentina to begin his campaign, he was asked to appear before the Public Ministry on Wednesday to make a declaration regarding the alleged mishandling of a so-called Indigenous Fund, local media said.
Bolivians will be electing a new president on May 3 for the second time in eight months, after hard-right factions rejected Morales’ reelection to a fourth term in October, citing electoral fraud.
Arce was picked as presidential candidate for MAS party on Jan 19 by Morales, also the party’s founder, who made the announcement in Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires, where he was granted political asylum after being forced out of office in November.
Arce, 56, left the airport without speaking to the press as his supporters chanted: “Arce, president,” and “Fight, friend, the people are with you.”
Arce is considered the brainchild behind Bolivia’s economic success under Morales but like many of his former colleagues has been accused of wrong-doing while in office.
Rafael Quispe, the director of the Indigenous Development Fund, has called on Arce to be “charged, arrested and taken to jail” for his “alleged responsibility in the embezzlement of millions” from an indigenous fund while he was economy minister.
However, no arrest warrant has been issued for Arce, according to Attorney General Heidy Gil.
MAS led the most recent opinion poll with 26 percent — although the survey was conducted before Arce was named as the party’s candidate.
Centrist Carlos Mesa, who came second to Morales in the disputed October election, and right-winger Luis Fernando Camacho each polled 17 percent.
Interim president Jeanine Anez — who controversially announced her candidacy on Sunday despite having previously insisted her role was only to lead the country into elections — was in fourth place with 12 percent.
Candidates have until Feb 3 to register. — NNN-AGENCIES