The opposition candidates prevailed this Sunday in the four main cities of Bolivia gaining its intendancies, but the fight for the governorships was more disputed, where the ruling Movement for Socialism (MAS) confirmed its territorial dominance with first-round victories in at least four of the nine state districts of the country, according to exit results.
Four months after the return to national power of the MAS, with the presidency of Luis Arce, some 7.1 million Bolivians were called to vote in a compulsory way to elect the nine governors of the Altiplano and the 336 mayors with their respective regional assembly members and municipal councilors, among other positions. They registered 20 thousand candidates for about 5 thousand public positions, as indicated by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE).
The brief electoral campaign was marked by disqualifications and legal proceedings against some opposition candidates, that it arrived at the elections without a clear leadership. But it also made visible fractures within the Movement to Socialism, especially after the departure of Eva Copa, former president of the Senate, who was directly opposed to the leadership of the former president and current party chief, Evo Morales, whom she questioned for the “dirigisme” in the nomination of candidates.
According to the exit results of the Ciesmori company for the television channel Unitel, Senator Copa (Agrupación Jallalla) won the strategic mayoralty of El Alto, sweeping 67% of the vote against 22% for the MAS candidate, Zacarías Masquera.
In La Paz, the mayoralty remained for Iván Arias (Somos Pueblo), who obtained 48% of the votes against 35% ´ for César Dockweiler of the MAS. In Santa Cruz, meanwhile, the opponent Gary Añez (Citizen Community) prevailed with 32.9% of the votes over Johnny Fernández (Civic Unit), with 31.9%. The MAS applicant, Adriana Salvatierra, was in third position with 16.2%.
An Aymara woman, in front of an old poster of works by former President Evo Morales, in El Palomar, during the Bolivian elections. AP Photo / Juan Karita.
In Cochabamba, the other large Bolivian city in the so-called “central axis”, Manfred Reyes (Súmate) obtained 56% compared to 23% for Nelson Cox, the official candidate of the MAS.
The remaining provincial capitals for the MAS they were those of Sucre, Oruro and Cobija.
In the race for the governorships, on the other hand, the dispute was closed this Sunday in several districts. The MAS had an advantage in Oruro, Potosí, La Paz and Pando, while the conservative right led by Luis Camacho prevailed in Santa Cruz de la Sierra (55.4%), defeating the MAS candidate, Mario by more than 10 points. Cronenbold.
After winning the presidential election, The MAS was involved in a very strong dispute that has conditioned its position in these elections. But the atomization also affected the opposition, which is unable to coalesce under a national leadership, according to analysts.
“After recovering democracy in 2020, today it is up to us to elect our territorial representatives,” said the country’s president, Luis Arce, when formally opening the election, although he refused to participate in the official act carried out by the Electoral Tribunal in which he participated. the mission of OAS observers.
Arce won the last presidential elections on October 18 with 55% of the votes, But the polls predicted a complex scenario for his party, the MAS, and for his mentor, Evo Morales, in the four main cities of the country.
In the weeks leading up to this Sunday’s election, the polls showed little possibility of a radical change in the regional political map in force since the 2015 elections, that gave the ruler MAS control of six of the nine departmental governments.
At the municipal level, the MAS controlled approximately 90% of the mayoralties, mainly in rural municipalities, but those of the four main cities were in the hands of various opposition forces.
In the case of the governorates, the same applies as in the general elections, that is, the two best-voted candidates go to a second round scheduled for April if neither achieves more than 50% of the votes to be proclaimed winner in the first round.
“We are the first country in the world to organize two elections in the harsh times of the pandemic”, highlighted Salvador Romero, the president of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal. Bolivia registered its first cases of Covid-19 last March and has accumulated 253,950 infections and 11,807 deaths from the virus so far.
Sources: AP, AFP and Clarín agencies
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source https://pledgetimes.com/the-opposition-prevailed-in-the-main-cities-in-the-regional-elections-of-bolivia/
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