Bolivia reinstates a leftist challenger but keeps former leader Morales off the ballot
LA PAZ Bolivia AP Bolivia s electoral tribunal on Friday included leftist Senate leader Andr nico Rodr guez on the list of presidential candidates approved for the ballot but excluded the powerful former socialist leader Evo Morales the other major thorn in the president s side As tensions escalate in the run-up to Bolivia s Aug elections the Supreme Electoral Tribunal reinstated Rodr guez a -year-old political upstart with close ties to Morales and roots in the ex-president s rural coca-growing stronghold weeks after suspending his candidacy on technical grounds in a decision that shocked multiple Bolivians We are the candidate of the people Rodr guez revealed in a speech welcoming the revival of his campaign Our primary concern has been to wage the legal battle and in the end the power of the people had to prevail With the ruling Movement Toward Socialism party or MAS riven by dysfunction and division over President Luis Arce s power struggle with his former mentor Morales supporters of the senate leader see him as the only chance for MAS to beat the right-wing opposition and salvage its decades-long political dominance President Arce widely blamed for accelerating Bolivia s worst economic predicament in years dropped out of the race last month Opinion polls show that his pick for the presidency senior minister Eduardo del Castillo has inherited the president s unpopularity Arce s administration insists that its main rival Morales is constitutionally barred from running Morales accuses Arce of waging a judicial war against him In leaving out Morales the tribunal opened the prospective for further turmoil Morales has called on his supporters to take to the streets to demand his eligibility Over the last week his followers have blockaded various of the main roads around the country adding to a sense of emergency as merchants and truckers rise up in outrage over surging food prices and severe fuel shortages Morales who governed Bolivia from to has been holed up in the country s tropics for months surrounded by fiercely loyal coca-farmers as Arce s establishment seeks his arrest on charges relating to his sexual relationship with a -year-old girl A constitutional court filled with judges beholden to Arce has disputed the legality of Morales fourth candidacy and barred him from the contest The constitutional court acts like a sniper restricting and enabling electoral participation upon request he declared in response to his disqualification The order is clear Hand over the executive to the right and legitimize the ballot with negotiated candidates who will protect their backs Morales whose own loyalists packed the same court when he was president points to an earlier court ruling that paved the way for his presidential campaign that noted it would violate his human rights to stop him running Morales bid that year for an unprecedented fourth term ultimately sparked mass protests and led to his resignation and brief self-exile The conservative opposition to MAS is also fractured with at least three right-of-center candidates vying for the presidency and no clear frontrunner All of them are little-known abroad but well-known within Bolivia where they have run for president or served in administration in the past Jorge Tuto Quiroga former president from - Samuel Doria Medina a former cement tycoon and planning minister and Manfred Reyes Villa the mayor of Bolivia s major central city of Cochabamba Quiroga and Doria Medina promoted privatizations of state-run companies in the s before MAS took over Source
