LA PAZ, Oct 19 (NNN-Prensa Latina) — The candidate of the Movement toward Socialism (MAS), Luis Arce, won the Sunday presidential election in first round, according to an exit poll broadcast by the national television network Unitel.
The network said that Arce received 52.4 percent of the votes, enough to avoid a runoff, against ex president Carlos Mesa, the card the right wing was playing to keep itself in power after a coup d’etat against Evo Morales last year.
According to the exit poll, Mesa obtained 31.5 percent, in spite of the government and media support that sought to avoid at all costs the return of the MAS to power.
Consulting firm Ciesmori, in charge of the survey, pointed out that it has a margin of error of up to one percent.
That result must be confirmed by the official figures which will be announced in the next few days. Ciesmori exit poll exceeds predictions of previous polls, which gave Arce as the favorite.
Mesa only hoped that Arce would not reach 40 percent or fail to have a 10-point lead to force a runoff in which the right would unite to block the return of the MAS to government.
The result of the exit poll has definitively done away with the discourse of fraud used by the opposition against MAS a year ago, when President Evo Morales won by a smaller margin.
The opposition then alleged fraud and unleashed a coup, with military and police support, which led to the annulment of the elections and forced the president to resign. — NNN-PRENSA LATINA
