Bolivia’s Morales agrees to new elections

Bolivian President Evo Morales agreed yesterday to hold new presidential elections after a damning report from the Organization of American States (OAS) found serious irregularities in an Oct. 20 vote won by the leftist leader. Morales’ victory last month sparked widespread protests around the country.

The OAS report, issued earlier on Sunday, said the October vote should be annulled after it had found “clear manipulations” of the voting system that meant it could not verify the result. Morales, speaking at a press conference in La Paz, also said he would replace the country’s electoral body.

The department has come under heavy criticism after an unexplained halt to the vote count sparked widespread allegations of fraud and prompted the OAS audit. When questioned about whether he would be a candidate in the new election, Morales told a local radio station that “the candidacies must be secondary; what comes first is to pacify Bolivia,” adding that he has a constitutional duty to finish his term.

Morales, who came to power in 2006 as Bolivia’s first indigenous leader, has defended his election win but had said he would adhere to the findings of the OAS audit. The election turmoil has rattled Morales, a survivor of Latin America’s leftist “pink tide” two decades ago, while shaking faith in the stability of Bolivia’s democracy. The crisis threatens to topple the leftist icon at a time when left-leaning leaders have returned to power in Mexico and Argentina.