Elections in Bolivia: what you should know

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(CNN) - On October 20, Bolivians will go to the polls to elect president, vice president, 36 senators, 130 deputies and 9 supra-state representatives in a complex political scenario that in recent days has warmed up with cabildos and demonstrations in different cities of the country they announced to defend democracy and enforce their vote at the polls.

In this context, two candidates are the ones with the greatest chances of reaching the presidency of Bolivia, in a polarized political scenario, which sees a second electoral round, according to experts.

On the one hand, there is President Evo Morales, of the Movement to Socialism, who is in office for a fourth term.

MIRA: The fires of the Chiquitanía would have an impact on the vote of the Bolivians

Morales says he will win the elections this Sunday, and clarifies that the process of change that his government undertook, 14 years ago, is irreversible “because the people are united, around a political project of liberation, the people are united around a government program, but the people's program. ”

Morales comes to the electoral contest after a ruling by the constitutional court that enabled him to run indefinitely, on the grounds that it is a human right, despite the result of the February 2016 referendum that gave him 51.3% from votes to no to re-election.

The current Bolivian constitution, approved in February 2019, only includes two consecutive periods for the presidency in Bolivia.

On the other front is the former president, and now a presidential candidate, Carlos Mesa.

For Mesa, next Sunday's election is crucial, because Bolivian democracy is at stake against the authoritarianism established by the government of the Movement to Socialism in these last 14 years.

His party aims to "establish a government of transformation, of real democracy, that responds to what most Bolivians ask for and want."

In this context, political analysts such as Gonzalo Rojas affirm that a second electoral round “highly tense, with a lot of uncertainty, is being envisioned, but what we have in favor of democracy is a mobilized citizenship that will be jealous of their vote, of voting control. ”, He clarifies.

But this election is also loaded with clouds of possible electoral fraud, and questioning by political sectors opposed to the work of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal in favor of the ruling party.

This is stated by deputy Jimena Costa of National Unity, who told CNN that, “the electoral roll since 2005 that Evo Morales enters, who was a clean and refined registry has grown by 190% for the 2019 election, obviously not It correlates with population growth, there has been no population growth of 190%. ”

The president of the Electoral Tribunal, María Eugenia Choque, questions Jimena Costa's position, stating that the register is reliable and was audited by the Organization of American States (OAS), as will also be audited the computer systems implemented for this election.

“Our work is going to be transparent, our work not only has to do with saying but with facts. The electoral ISO will be a fact, the process audit will be a fact and the continuous and permanent monitoring will not only be between four walls, it will be public, ”he explains.

If a second electoral round takes place in the elections on Sunday, October 20, the Bolivians would exercise that right for the first time in the democratic history of this country, after the approval of the new Constitution in February 2009.

Bolivia Vote 2019Evo Morales