Evo Morales announces a coup

Morales's announcement comes after the convulsed events that angered citizens in Bolivia after presidential elections that presented irregularities in its development. 'El Jefazo', as Morales is known, declared winner in the first electoral round of the elections held this past October 20 in the Andean country, however, Bolivia burns furiously after what appears to be an electoral fraud of those that occur so frequently in Latin America.

In the Bolivian capital of La Paz, before a press conference, the president said he wanted to “denounce to the Bolivian people and the entire world: a coup d'etat is in progress, although I want to tell you that we already knew it before. The right-wing has been prepared with international support for a coup d'etat.”

According to the most recent data released by the TSE, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal of Bolivia, with 96.63% of the minutes recorded, Morales Ayma of the Movement to Socialism has obtained 46.03% of the votes, while the opponent Carlos Mesa has reached 37.35% of them.

With a difference of less than 10 percentage points, the two pointers would be forced to face the second round of elections to be held on December 15, a situation that Carlos Mesa demands as a triumph of democracy in the Andean country.

And despite Morales’s announcement of the possibility of a “coup d'etat of the right-wing,” he makes some analysts think of the ignorance of any result on his part, imposing himself as president once again, as happened in Venezuela, On the other hand, he stated that "Although the TREP (Transmission of Preliminary Electoral Results) said we won, we are respectful of the official report that the Supreme Electoral Tribunal will provide."

Also read: Confusion in Bolivia after presidential elections

This is what happened

On Sunday night, around 8 p.m. (local time), the TSE, the Bolivian Supreme Electoral Court, suspended the vote count with the progress of 83% of verified minutes through the system of Transmission of Preliminary Electoral Results, TREP, adducing some supposed “technical failures in the transmission of data”. Even though the results were sure that a second electoral round was held, since Morales had 45.7% of the votes and Carlos Mesa, the journalist and historian reached 38.8% of the registered votes.

After this surprise interruption in the counting of votes, the Electoral Observation Mission, MOE, of the Organization of American States, demanded from the TSE explanations for the suspension in the provisional count “OAS Electoral Observation Mission continues to rigorously follow up the process Election in #Bolivia. It is essential that the TSE explain why the transmission of preliminary results was interrupted and that the process of publishing the data of the data is developed smoothly ”, was the publication on the social network Twitter that made the MOE through its official account.

After the suspension of Sunday night, which left Morales with an insipid advantage over Mesa and which forced the holding of a second electoral round in which the Bolivians would have no more options than these two contestants, the TSE, in a Surprising twist announced on Monday, October 21, an advantage of more than 10 percentage points of the current president against the opponent, this exacerbated the mood of the communities.

The seriousness of the matter is that before the interruption, the advantage was seven points, but, at the time of the suspension of the count through the TREP and after 24 hours of counting, surprisingly that advantage is extended to 10 points, avoiding the second electoral round and giving as virtual winner in the first round to Morales for his fourth term.

Hundreds of protesters in the different cities in Bolivia took to the streets to reject an alleged electoral fraud in order to re-elect Morales for a fourth term. After the riots in La Paz, a large police device had to be deployed in the surroundings of the TSE building where countless citizens who chanted “the united people will never be defeated” in rejection of the interruption of counting and verification were concentrated.

In Riberalta, one of the most important cities in the north of the Andean country about 650 kilometers from La Paz, the fiery citizens brought down, with ropes, machetes, and saws, a statue of the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez Frías, inaugurated by Morales in 2013.

Also read: Bolivia: from "we are presidents" to "Evo or none"

Something similar would happen in Potosí, on the other side of the country, the community offended by the possibility of not carrying out a second round as a result of the alleged electoral fraud, set fire to the Civil Registry Service building of the Departmental Electoral Court. There, the departmental police commander of Potosí was relieved of the position, according to versions of the Potosi Civic Committee, Commander Williams Villa, was separated and relieved of his duties for not suppressing citizen demonstrations and avoiding confrontations between the Police and citizens. However, the incoming commander, Bernardino Valdivieso said that his predecessor was not dismissed, only relocated.

On the other hand, Sucre, another of the main urban centers in Bolivia, reported burning of tires on the streets, violent demonstrations and attempted fire of the TED building, Departmental Electoral Court, from where the members of this departmental body fled paralyzing the computation of the electoral records In Oruro, Santa Cruz, and other urban centers there were identical consequences.

Meanwhile and without waiting for the official results, 'El Jefazo', proclaimed himself the winner of the first-round elections. "We won once again, four consecutive elections we won in Bolivia, historic and unpublished," Morales said in front of thousands of supporters who applauded him.

Already with 96.63% of the electoral records computed this Wednesday, October 23, Morales's advantage over Mesa decreases again and stands at 8 percentage points, which again boosts a second round so far although Morales's statements make Fall a blanket of doubts about holding these elections.

Antonio Costas, vice president of the TSE, presented his letter of resignation because he considered that suspending the transmission of preliminary electoral data has “discredited the entire electoral process, causing an unnecessary social upheaval,” thus holding the rest of the members of this electoral body responsible for have generated the situation lived in Bolivia.

However, it should be remembered that Morales came to these elections having lost an electoral referendum that sought to modify the constitution that prevented him from accessing power once again. When the people of Bolivia were asked if they agreed with that amending act that gave Morales permission to continue governing, 51% of the votes said No, compared with 49% of the Si.

Despite the popular refusal and having lost, even by a narrow margin, Morales appealed that this inability to participate violated his human rights and political rights as a citizen and the result of that protest, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, TSE, which abruptly suspended the counting of votes, was the same that endorsed Morales to present himself to this claim of a fourth term.

And while Bolivia burns in uncertainty, the international community does not stop wondering if this will not be another of the socialist countries that intend to eternalize its rulers by manipulating the voting as happened in Venezuela. Will we be facing another Venezuela?