Bolivia: General Elections Are Postponed to October

Bolivia's Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) Thursday announced that the general elections will be postponed from September 6 to October 18.

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If a second round is necessary, it would take place on November 29, according to TSE President Salvador Romero.

These announcements take place at a time when the candidate of the Towards Socialism Movement (MAS) Luis Arce indisputably leads the citizens' preference to occupy the Presidency of the republic.

Besides being a longing for the coup-born regime led by Jeanine Añez, the postponement of the elections was requested by right-wing candidates such as Luis Fernando Camacho and Jorge Quiroga, who argue that the pandemic will not allow the electoral process to take place.

In this Andean country, which suffered a U.S.-backed coup in Nov. 2019, the intensions of the economic and political elites were evidenced on several previous occasions.

The meme reads, "Elections, flowers, and undecided citizens. Suddenly, we are back in the 70s. We'll see marches in defense of the democratic vote. We'll listen to speeches demanding the right to vote. We'll read journalists defending the regime with their blood-stained ink."

Just a few hours before the TSE announcement, Former President Evo Morales warned that "a delay in the election date will only harm the people because of the ungovernability, the uncontrolled pandemic, and the economic crisis."

The MAS leader also presented data from a recent survey according to which 72 percent of the people consulted said that they are willing to attend the elections despite the pandemic.

"The de facto government wants to gain more time to continue its persecution against social leaders and Socialist candidates. That is another form of proscription. That is why it does not want elections on Sept. 6," Morales stressed.