Former Bolivian President Banned from Senate Run
Bolivia was swamped with protests following former President Evo Morales’ allegedly fraudulent elections. (Source)
Former Bolivian President Evo Morales’s appeal to run for Senate in the upcoming Bolivian elections was rejected by a Bolivian Court on September 7. Although Morales, who is currently in exile in Argentina, was deemed ineligible to run for the Senate over a technicality, the decision represents a larger conflict over the limits of presidential power within Bolivian politics that has played out over the last few years.
Morales rose to power as a champion of Indigenous and workers’ rights, and he won the presidency in 2006 with his party Movement for Socialism. He led the country for the next 14 years as its first Indigenous president, and he garnered widespread popularity for his policies empowering Bolivia’s poorest citizens. Though his populist ideas often put him in conflict with the conservative political elite, it was only recently that he lost the support of the general public.
By 2016, Morales began implementing increasingly authoritative measures, such as appointing loyalists to the courts and targeting opposition politicians, to consolidate his power. Already in his tenth year and third term as president, Morales pushed a referendum eliminating the presidential two-term limit imposed during his first years in office, a proposal voters narrowly rejected. Undeterred, Morales took his case to the courts, where his appointees ruled in his favor, allowing him to run for president once again.
His fourth run for president was characterized by dropping approval ratings and public discontent that came to a head on election day, when election officials stopped releasing results for 24 hours. Ultimately, Morales was declared the outright winner, avoiding a runoff election to determine the president. The unusual situation was confirmed by multiple organizations including the Organization of American States (OAS), who cited irregularities in calling for a new vote. Protests broke out around Bolivia, and Morales struggled to maintain power. His security forces turned on him, refusing to quell the demonstrators.
After losing authority, Morales and several of his deputies resigned and left the country. Bolivia was left in a constitutional crisis after several members of the presidential line of succession resigned as well, so conservative Minority Speaker of the Senate Jeanine Añez assumed the responsibility of Interim President with support from Bolivia’s highest court. In contrast to Morales’ prioritization of previously neglected Indigenous communities, Añez has reintroduced the church into Bolivian politics, relying on conservative religious groups to legitimize her authority. Meanwhile, Morales continued to encourage the remaining members of his party and supporters (many of them from Indigenous communities) to continue fighting for him.
The new elections, initially scheduled for May 2020, have now been pushed to October due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Añez, who initially declared she was only a temporary leader, has dismantled many of Morales’s leftist policies and positioned herself as a candidate for president. Though Morales cannot run for president, and his appeal to run for Senate was rejected because his time in exile has disqualified him of the Bolivian residency requirement, his attempt to run indicates the influence Morales and Movement for Socialism (which has nominated former finance minister Luis Arce for president) intend to continue exercising in Bolivian politics. The result: a polarized election and a contest between Morales's and Añez’s conflicting visions for Bolivia’s political future.