Bolivian President Evo Morales speaks in a press conference in the city of El Alto, Bolivia, Nov. 10, 2019. Evo Morales announced his resignation on Sunday after calling for new national elections to pacify the country. (Enzo De Luca/ABI/Handout via Xinhua)
Bolivia has been plunged into political uncertainty since right-wing opposition factions rejected the re-election of the country's first indigenous president, Evo Morales, to a fourth term in October elections, citing electoral fraud.
LA PAZ, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Bolivia's Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) has decided to hold general elections on May 3, the court's vice President Oscar Hassenteufel said on Friday.
"The first Sunday in May," the official told reporters at a public event in the southern city of Sucre, adding the official announcement will be made on Monday.
Bolivia has been plunged into political uncertainty since right-wing opposition factions rejected the re-election of the country's first indigenous president, Evo Morales, to a fourth term in October elections, citing electoral fraud.
Morales resigned and fled to Mexico after Bolivia's military and police forces sided with the conservative opposition and withdrew their support for his leadership. He later relocated to Argentina.
Jeanine Anez (C) wears the presidential sash after proclaiming herself interim president in La Paz, Bolivia, on Nov. 12, 2019. (Photo by Meagan Hancock/Xinhua)
Opposition lawmaker Jeanine Anez took over as interim president and presided over the process to hold new elections, with the participation of the Legislative Assembly, where Morales' Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) party holds a majority of seats.
The MAS has yet to name its presidential candidate and running mate while several opposition parties have already announced theirs. They include Luis Fernando Camacho, a major critic of Morales; President of the Potosinists Civic Committee Marco Pumari; former President Carlos Mesa, and Felix Patzi, governor of La Paz.
Also on Friday, Salvador Romero, president of the TSE, told reporters in La Paz that more details of the election schedule will be released on Monday.
He added the budget for these elections will be much smaller than that for the Oct. 20 elections, which cost 217.3 million bolivianos (31.5 million U.S. dollars). ■
