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Evo Morales resigns amid accusations of electoral fraud and a political crisis in Bolivia

2019-11-10T23:37:51.254Z


The president of Bolivia resigned after weeks of protests following the results in the elections of October 20 and the same day that the OAS audit said "serious ...


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(CNN) - The president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, resigned on Sunday in the midst of growing opposition, after the OAS international audit indicated that the results of the elections of last October 20 could not be ratified due to “serious irregularities ”.

MIRA: Minute by minute: Evo Morales resigns from the presidency of Bolivia

Morales said he resigned "for the good of the country," which has been shaken by multiple protests in the days after the elections. Three people have died in the demonstrations and hundreds were injured.

"I deeply regret it," Morales said, during his speech on national television. And he added that he would send his resignation letter to Congress in the next few hours.

Evo Morales, president of Bolivia, at the time of announcing his resignation. (Photo by Alexis Demarco / APG / Getty Images)

The protesters and the Bolivian opposition accused the electoral authorities of manipulating the vote count in favor of Morales, the country's president for a long time. The president denied the accusations, but declared himself the winner of the elections.

Vice President Álvaro García Linera also announced his resignation minutes after Morales. According to the Constitution of Bolivia, the president of the Senate, Adriana Salvatierra Arriaza, 30, would be next in line of succession. But it is not clear if he will rise to the presidency due to widespread opposition to Morales's party.

Evo Morales resigned just hours after promising that new elections would be held and that the country's electoral council would be replaced, following the report of the Organization of American States (OAS).

A series of alleged irregularities - which include failures in the chain of custody of ballots, alteration and falsification of electoral material, redirection of data to unauthorized servers and data manipulation - impacted the official counting of the votes, said the OAS.

During the hours after the polls closed, preliminary results showed that Morales slightly exceeded his opponent, former president Carlos Mesa. The narrow margin would have caused a second round in December.

MIRA: This is Bolivia: its economy, politics and social situation

But the opposition and international observers began to suspect after election officials stopped counting for approximately 24 hours without any explanation. When the process resumed, Morales' leadership had increased significantly, giving him the necessary votes to avoid the second round.

“The manipulations to the computer system (used in the elections) are of such magnitude that the Bolivian State must investigate them deeply to get to the bottom (of this issue),” said the OAS, in part.

The organization recommended new elections under "new electoral authorities to offer a reliable process."

People take to the streets of La Paz to celebrate the resignation of President Evo Morales. (Credit: JORGE BERNAL / AFP)

Calls for Morales to resign increased over the weekend. On Saturday, several police units joined that demand, while the head of the Bolivian Armed Forces, Commander Williams Kaliman, said his troops would not face the protesters.

On Sunday, Kaliman took a step further and asked Morales to resign in order to restore stability and peace.

Several government party officials announced this Sunday that they would resign, including mayors and Victor Borda, president of the Chamber of Deputies.

LEE: OAS concludes in audit that there were irregularities in elections in Bolivia

The U.S. Department of State It is monitoring the “events that are developing rapidly” in Bolivia, said a spokesman for the entity.

Previously, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had praised the OAS audit and said the United States supported the new elections and the installation of a new electoral council.

"To restore the credibility of the electoral process, all government officials and officials of any political organization involved in the failed elections on October 20 must depart from the electoral process," Pompeo said.

Protesters protest the election results in Sucre, Bolivia, on October 22, 2019.

Morales is one of the heads of state who spent more years in power in Latin America, as well as being the first indigenous president of Bolivia. He won his first election with a campaign that promised a government focused on the needs of the country's poor. But he was also accused of using the system to concentrate power.

Helen Regan and Matt Rivers of CNN contributed to this report.

Evo MoralesProtestsProtests in Bolivia

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2019-11-10

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