Over the past few weeks, the South American nation of Bolivia has been rocked with instability following recent presidential elections. With Bolivia’s president having now resigned, the future of democratic elections in Bolivia is uncertain. This week, we’ll unpack the election results from Bolivia and what this could mean for South America in general.
So where is Bolivia?
Bolivia is a landlocked country located in western-central South America. The capital is Sucre, while the seat of government and financial center is located in La Paz. The sovereign state of Bolivia is a constitutionally unitary state, divided into nine departments. Out of the nine departments, La Paz is the most populous.
Who is Evo Morales?
Bolivia has been governed by democratically elected governments since 1982. Prior to that, it was governed by various dictatorships. Evo Morales, was the first indigenous Bolivian to serve as head of state. Morales' Movement for Socialism was the first to win an outright presidential majority in four decades, both in 2005 and 2009. During both of those terms, the country experienced domestic unrest and protests. This unrest came directly from his primary base of support, as indigenous and leftist activists rejected numerous governmental reforms.
Former Bolivian President Evo Morales
The 2019 Bolivian General Election
On October 20, 2019, Morales won 47.1% of the vote in the first round of the 2019 Bolivian general election. Before the results were published, the system that counted the votes failed for a moment. Before the failure, Morales was a little bit ahead of his opposition but soon after the system was rebooted, Morales was ahead by a large margin. The results were immediately disputed and led to widespread protests across the country.
On November 9, 2019 the Organization of American States published a report stating there were "clear manipulations" including physical records with alterations and forged signatures, and evidence of manipulation. Morales announced that there would be new elections, however Morales’ team began to resign, and the military asked him to step down as well. Over the past two weeks, Bolivia has been left divided, Morales’ supporters have fought with the opposition on the streets and created chaos. By November 10th, Morales had given in to popular pressure and announced his resignation, claiming that the military and political opposition had staged a coup against him.
Protests following the 2019 General Election
What’s Next?
The main question now is: Who is in charge while the country is going through this instability? According to Bolivia’s constitution, the vice president and then the head of the Senate would take over, but they have resigned as well. As a result, Jeanine Añez, the vice-president of the senate, has announced that she is serving as interim head of government until new elections can be held. It is unclear yet when new elections would occur, but this outcome appears to stand in stark contrast to that of similar events in Venezuela. Here, the beleaguered government of Nicolas Maduro remains in power in large part due to the continued support of the military. What comes next for Bolivia will ultimately be determined by the protestors, the military, and opposition parties throughout the country as they enter a new phase of democratic governance.