OAS under criticism for double standard on Bolivian Elections

OAS under criticism for double standard on Bolivian Elections
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Fecha de publicación: 
18 October 2020
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La Paz, Oct 18 (Prensa Latina) Analysts and voters today in Bolivia described as double standard the position of the Organization of American States (OAS) regarding how to report the results in the 2019 elections and those taking place this Sunday.
 
The regional organization supported the suspension of the system of Dissemination of Preliminary Results (Direpre) by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) in response to the ineffectiveness of the referred system to truthfully reflect vote counting.

The OAS considers it unnecessary now to give preliminary information and advises Bolivians to wait for the final result, however it qualified the 2019 elections as fraudulent based on a partial report also based on a quick counting system.

Then the alleged fraud served as a pretext for the coup d'état which was led by the Bolivian right wing supported by violent groups, the army and the police, and forced the resignation of the then re-elected president Evo Morales.

During the following months, studies by the Center for Economic and Political Research, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Universities of Pennsylvania, Tulane and Michigan, and The New York Times, confirmed the farse of the OAS ruling fraud.

Hence, today's elections are qualified as historic because they could be the first step for the return to democracy in the country almost a year after the coup d'état.

According to surveys, Luis Arce, the candidate of the Movement toward Socialism, would win the vote, ahead of ex president Carlos Mesa and ultra right-wing Luis Fernando Camacho, one of the key leaders of last November coup against Evo Morales.

For Arce to win, without being forced to go to a runoff, he needs to win 50 percent of the ballots plus one vote, or, achieve 40 percent and a difference of 10 percentage points.

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