Spanish
La Paz.- The president of Bolivia, Luis Arce, rejected this Friday "any reckless attempt to put democracy at risk" in the country and pointed to national assembly members, political actors and sectors close to former president Evo Morales (2006-2019) of creating "coordinated actions" to disregard the results of the general elections on August 17.
"Faced with the coordinated actions of some national assembly members, political actors, and 'evista' sectors to disregard the results of the national elections last August (first round), as well as to obstruct and prevent the second round on October 19; we reject any reckless attempt to endanger democracy and social peace of the Bolivian people," Arce stated in a post on the social network X.
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The statement by the Bolivian president arises from an alleged meeting between legislators of the ruling Movement for Socialism (MAS) who would seek to form a commission to investigate irregularities in the first round of elections. Also, due to a complaint filed by citizen Peter Beckhauser before the Public Prosecutor's Office in which alleged irregularities are pointed out in 3,600 voting records in the first round. "As the National Government, within the framework of our competencies, we complied with the requirements of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal for the fulfillment of the electoral calendar, we attended all the meetings to which we were summoned by said instance and we have never broken our word," adds Arce in his message. President Arce has reiterated on several occasions that he will make a "democratic transition" and that he will hand over the Presidency on November 8th "to the winning candidate". For its part, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) alerted the citizenry through a statement on social media that "attempts are being made to affect the holding of the second round of elections by filing unfounded complaints with the Public Prosecutor's Office, with the aim of disregarding the results of the General Elections of August 17". The Bolivian electoral body reported that these actions "generate concern" because, at heart, they "seek to disregard the popular will expressed at the polls and intimidate the members" of the TSE. Likewise, candidate Jorge Tuto Quiroga pointed out this day that he has information "that there are plans to annul the first round" of elections, and warned that "strange things are happening" a few days before the second round. The unprecedented second round of the Bolivian presidential election will be held on October 19 between the opposition candidates, the right-wing former president Jorge Tuto Quiroga (2001-2002) of the Libre alliance and the centrist senator Rodrigo Paz Pereira of the Christian Democratic Party (PDC). Bolivia will summon 7,567,207 citizens over 18 years of age and another 369,308 in twenty-two countries to the polls to elect the government for the next five years. The general elections in Bolivia were observed by international missions such as the European Union and the Organization of American States (OAS), which agreed that the electoral process was successful. These elections also mark the end of almost 20 years of MAS governments and the loss of their majority in the Legislature, since for the next five years they will only have two deputies.
