Ex-Bolivian President Says His Party Cannot be Banned From Running in Upcoming Elections

BUENOS AIRES (Sputnik) – Former Bolivian President Evo Morales said in an interview that his party Movement for Socialism (MAS) could not be banned from the 2020 elections in the spring, slamming such attempts as anti-democratic as the party represents half of the country’s population.

“They cannot and will not manage to [prevent his party’s running in the elections]. I repeat that, according to the recent law, all [parties] that did it [in October elections] will run in the elections,” Morales said.

According to him, his party’s exclusion from the political process would be anti-democratic as half of the country’s population will not vote and participate in the elections.

Morales also said that he would not run for the post of the country’s vice president in the 2020 presidential election.

According to new election law, people who previously held office as president two times in a row cannot run for the presidency. Morales was the country’s president three times.

Former Bolivian President said that he counts on the victory of a candidate from his party in the first round of the upcoming presidential elections.

In December, Morales, ousted amid the ongoing political crisis in the country, arrived in Argentina to receive a refugee status and coordinate the presidential campaign of his party next year. His party’s candidate to the election will be defined on December 29.

Under pressure to resign from the protesting public and nation’s military, Morales stepped down from his fourth term in office on November 10 and fled to Mexico. Most of Bolivia’s senior government officials also resigned and sought asylum in the Mexican embassy in La Paz. In the meantime, the Senate’s second vice speaker, Jeanine Anez, declared herself interim president, and the new authorities announced a presidential election for mid-March. Morales was banned from running for the presidency.

Sourse: sputniknews.com