Bolivia De-Facto Gov't Enacts Law, Elections Sept. 6

Bolivia’s de facto President Jeanine Añez announced that she will enact the Elections Law, to be held on Sept. 6 without further delay, after being accused for several weeks of using the coronavirus pandemic as a pretext to grab power.

"I am going to enact the law," Añez said Sunday in a televised message to the country.

The announcement came hours after a meeting she held with the president of Bolivia’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), Salvador Romero, to discuss the practicability of doing the elections in September.

The country’s general elections were initially postponed from May 3 to Aug. 3 due to the epidemic. However, the Bolivian Assembly approved earlier this month another delay, postponing them for Sept. 6.

The de facto president said she has shown Romero a series of reports demonstrating the “risk” of realizing the general elections in the midst of the health crisis the country is currently experiencing.

“I have a country suffering, and many politicians and authorities demanding elections as soon as possible,” Añez said, denying that her intentions were to remain in power.

“The only reason why I agreed to speak of postponement was to avoid elections in full quarantine and thus avoid risks to people’s health,” she added

For his part, former President Evo Morales said hours before the announcement that a new coup against the Assembly was being planned in the meeting between Añez and Romero.