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The Movement to Socialism (MAS) won, with 55.1% of the votes, the general elections that took place this October 18 in Bolivia¹,2. The president will be Luis Arce, who was Evo Morales’ economy minister throughout his term. The elections were mostly peaceful³  and its  results have been recognized internationally^4,5.

The holding of these elections was the consequence of the challenge of those in the year 2019 (to which Evo Morales was presented as president)⁶, due to the complaint of fraud by right-wing opposition, backed by the Organization of American States (OAS)⁷. This challenge was not duly justified with data at any time^8,9 and gave rise to an interim presidency by the second vice president of the Senate, Jeanine Áñez, whose party had obtained 4% of the votes compared to 47% of the MAS¹⁰. Áñez, a conservative Catholic, was quickly backed by the US¹¹ and the EU¹². One of the first measures she took was to provide legal immunity to the Armed Forces and police, who harshly repressed the protests that occurred after the overthrow of Evo Morales^13,14,15.

The OAS is an organization with strong North American interference¹⁶. According to its founding charter, the OAS seeks to achieve among its Member States “an order of peace and justice, promote their solidarity, strengthen their collaboration, and defend their sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence.” These principles have been questioned many times¹⁷.

On the other hand, article 168 of the Bolivian Political Constitution, approved in a referendum in January 2009, established that the re-election of the Presidency and Vice-presidency of the State was only allowed once¹⁸. In 2016, a recall referendum on this article was called in the country, in which the “no”¹⁹ won. However, in 2019 Evo Morales was running for the presidency for the third time, since he had been authorized to do so by the Plurinational Electoral Body, by applying Article 23 of the American Convention on Human Rights to the Bolivian Constitution²⁰. This increased social conflict.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, it is perhaps the strong growth of the country during Morales’ mandate²¹, the reduction of inequalities²² or the new Bolivian social status²³, consequence of the wealth redistribution policies carried out by MAS, which ultimately accelerated harassment and takedown of the party during last year. Neoliberalism always applies the same recipes: privatization, debt, and social cuts. And it leads countries like Bolivia, buoyant in recent years, to red numbers in a single year, repressing the population and selling off the resources of an entire territory²⁴. However, social pressure has been enormous and has exposed an entire economic and media system. For all these reasons, the Bolivian population is a world example.

1 https://computo.oep.org.bo/
2 https://www.eldiario.es/politica/el-55-de-votos-da-nuevamente-fuerza-al-mas-en-el-parlamento-de-bolivia_1_6320306.html
3 http://www.nu.org.bo/noticias/naciones-unidas-celebra-una-jornada-electoral-pacifica-participativa/
4 http://www.oas.org/documents/spa/press/Informe-preliminar-Bolivia-2020.pdf
5 https://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/bolivia/87467/declaraci%C3%B3n-del-alto-representante-en-nombre-de-la-uni%C3%B3n-europea-sobre-las-elecciones_en
6 https://ctxt.es/es/20201001/Politica/33814/bolivia-golpe-de-estado-elecciones-2020-luis-arce-eduardo-giordano.htm
7 https://www.oas.org/es/centro_noticias/comunicado_prensa.asp?sCodigo=C-085/19
8 https://cepr.net/press-release/la-oea-debe-retractarse-de-su-declaracion-respecto-a-las-elecciones-bolivianas-senala-el-codirector-de-cepr/
9 https://cepr.net/images/stories/reports/bolivia-elections-2019-11-spanish.pdf
10 https://www.oep.org.bo/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Separata_Resultados_Nacionales_EG_2019.pdf
11 https://www.state.gov/congratulations-to-bolivian-senator-anez-for-assuming-the-role-of-interim-president/
12,13 https://www.amnesty.org/es/latest/news/2019/11/bolivia-derogar-norma-impunidad-fuerzas-armadas/
14 https://www.amnesty.org/es/latest/news/2019/10/bolivia-autoridades-deben-respetar-derecho-protesta-pacifica/
15 https://www.elsaltodiario.com/mapas/bolivia-balas-ejercito-terrorismo-semana-de-la-masacre-de-senkata
16 https://www.publico.es/internacional/america-latina-sacude-tutela-eeuu.html
17 https://www.opendemocracy.net/es/polarizacion-virus-oea/
18 https://oas.org/dil/esp/constitucion_bolivia.pdf
19 https://www.oep.org.bo/procesos-electorales-y-consultas/referendos/referendo-constitucional-2016/
20 https://www.oas.org/dil/esp/1969_Convenci%C3%B3n_Americana_sobre_Derechos_Humanos.pdf
21 https://www.dw.com/es/cu%C3%A1les-son-las-claves-del-%C3%A9xito-econ%C3%B3mico-boliviano/a-49541834
22 https://www.ine.gob.bo/index.php/bolivia-entre-los-paises-de-la-region-que-mas-redujo-la-pobreza/
23 https://www.bo.undp.org/content/bolivia/es/home/presscenter/articles/2019/bolivia-es-clasificado-por-primera-vez-como-pais-de-desarrollo-h.html
24 https://www.elsaltodiario.com/bolivia/bolivia-recupera-el-proceso-de-cambio

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