In the dispute over the outcome of the presidential election in Bolivia, incumbent Evo Morales now leans on the pressure of the demonstrators. Now he announces new elections, responding to a report by the Organization of American States (OAS). In it, the OAS recommends new elections because it found serious irregularities in the poll on 20 October.
The longtime president of the South American nation also announced that he would replace the members of the electoral board who had been submerged after the election because of allegations of electoral fraud.
In Bolivia, there have been massive protests for weeks against the official result of the presidential election announced by the electoral commission, according to which the leftist incumbent Morales narrowly won the victory. The opposition and many citizens suspect electoral fraud. So far, three people were killed in the protests and around 200 others were injured. (Read more about the backgrounds here.)
Only the day before, protesters had occupied the headquarters of two state broadcasters. The staff of Bolivia TV and radio station Radio Patria Nueva left the station building in the capital La Paz under the boos of hundreds of protesters. At the same time, the police had said they would not act against the anti-government protesters. Some policemen also joined the protests.
The riots continued in the night of Sunday. Protesters blocked, according to media reports, a toll station on the highway between La Paz and the adjacent Oet El Alto, a stronghold of the Morales supporters. The private television station Unitel said its facility had been destroyed by protesters.
The opposition had rejected a call from incumbent Evo Morales to dialogue. His rival in the presidential election, Carlos Mesa, said with regard to Morales and his government that there was "nothing to negotiate". Another opposition party rejected the offer of talks. The influential citizen committees, which organize the protests significantly, the president previously expressly excluded from his offer.