Resounding
Victory for the People in Bolivian Election Mass Mobilization Sweeps Reactionary Coup Forces from Office
- Claude Brunelle - 
President-elect Luis
Arce (fourth from left), and Vice President-elect David Choquehuanca
(fifth from left).
On October 23,
five days after a general election was held in Bolivia, the
much-awaited official results were announced by the country's
Plurinational Electoral Body. They confirmed and exceeded what exit
polls had predicted on October 18: a landslide first round victory for
Luis Arce, presidential candidate for the Movement Toward Socialism --
Political Instrument for the Sovereignty of the Peoples (MAS-IPSP) and
his vice presidential running mate David Choquehuanca. Luis Arce
becomes president with 55.1 per cent of the vote, a 26-point advantage
over the runner-up, Carlos Mesa (Civic Community), who received 28.3
per cent. Luis Fernando Camacho (We Believe) finished third with 14 per
cent of the vote, followed by Chi Hyun Chung (Front for Victory) with
1.55 per cent, and Feliciano Mamani (National Action Party of Bolivia)
with 0.51 per cent. Almost 70 per cent of ballots cast by Bolivian
citizens outside of the country went to Luis Arce. Both
Mesa, a former president of Bolivia who was reportedly the preferred
candidate of the U.S., and Camacho, a member of a wealthy Santa Cruz
family with links to racist paramilitary gangs called "civic
committees," participated in last November's coup
d’état against President Evo Morales, as part of
the chorus alleging, without any proof, that he had fraudulently
engineered his own re-election.  
Evo
Morales October 18, 2020, at celebration in Buenos Aires, Argentina of
the
MAS-IPSP election victory.
In this
year's election MAS-IPSP retained its majority in both chambers of the
Plurinational Legislative Assembly, winning 75 of 130 seats in the
House of Representatives and 21 of 36 seats in the Senate. The new
government is expected to be installed on November 8. Large public
celebrations meanwhile began in all earnest on Saturday, October 24,
after the official results were announced Friday evening.
Participation in the election was reported as 88.4 per cent of
registered voters. Salvador Romero, President of the Supreme Electoral
Tribunal (TSE), called the turnout historic for being the largest ever
in Bolivia and one of the largest in Latin America in the 21st century
-- and because it took place in the middle of a pandemic. The average
turnout for elections in Bolivia, where voting is mandatory, is around
80 per cent, he said. Electoral observers were sent
to Bolivia, with others operating remotely from outside the country, by
the United Nations, the European Union, the Carter Center in the U.S.,
the Permanent Conference of Political Parties of Latin
American and the Caribbean (COPPPAL) and the parliament of Mercosur
(Parlasur). Others that received accreditation included a delegation of
Argentinian parliamentarians, a team of journalists organized by the
U.S. anti-war group Code Pink and a delegation from the Progressive
International. The OAS insulted the Bolivian people by sending an
observation mission headed by the same individual -- a former foreign
minister from Costa Rica -- who headed last year’s mission
that opened the door to the coup. Canada contributed funding and
observers to this year's OAS mission, as it had for the one that did
the dirty work last year. Not long before election day, with Luis Arce
and David Choquehuanca showing a strong lead in all polls, OAS
Secretary General Luis Almagro began making noise about the possibility
of "another electoral fraud" in Bolivia, indicating he was waiting for
a chance to pounce again. Almagro must
be disappointed. None of the national or international election
observer missions, including that of the OAS, nor representatives of
parties with candidates in the election, have reported having misgivings about the election or the results. The de facto president
of the coup government, Jeanine Áñez, as well as
other sworn enemies of MAS, including other candidates for president,
acknowledged the victory of Luis Arce and David Choquehuanca, conceding
their own defeat without even waiting for the official results. The
fact that the same voting trends favouring MAS emerged in this election
as in last year's, and were accentuated with even more votes this time,
makes a strong case against the accusations of spokespersons for U.S.
imperialism who say Evo Morales won last year's election through
"fraud." Rather it lends weight to the opinion being expressed by many
today, that the only fraud was the one the OAS instigated against the
Bolivian people. More evidence for this can be seen
in the tenacious fight waged by Bolivian workers and social movements,
including many women's and Indigenous organizations, which rallied
around the MAS to demand the coup government hold a new election
without delay; the massive and enthusiastic participation in rallies
supporting MAS's candidates for president and vice president as the
election approached; the unprecedented numbers of people who voted in
this year's election -- and who they overwhelmingly voted for.
The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) sent a letter
of congratulations to President-elect Luis Arce, Vice President-elect
David Choquehuanca, the President of MAS-IPSP Evo Morales, and the
Bolivian people for their resounding victory in the October 18 General
Election. This victory will provide new impetus to
the people to not only defend their victory but also forge even
stronger unity around their project of building a sovereign and
independent Plurinational State of Bolivia in which the rights of all,
not just a privileged few, are affirmed, where it is the people of
Bolivia and not some hegemonic foreign power or group of powers that
decide the affairs of the nation, including the direction of the
economy and the country's foreign policy so that Bolivia once again
contributes to making Latin America and the Caribbean a zone of peace.
Jallalla Bolivia! 
Pickets in
Canada Support Bolivian People 
On October
18, activists participated in a picket outside the U.S. Consulate in
Montreal called by the Quebec Movement for Peace to oppose foreign
interference in Bolivia and support the struggle of the Bolivian people
for their empowerment. The many placards and slogans expressed the
protesters' resolve: No
to All Foreign Interference in Bolivia!, Let the People of Bolivia Decide!, Canada, U.S., Hands Off
Bolivia!, Full
Support to the Bolivian People for Their Emancipation!, Bolivia, Yes!
Yankee, No!"
Throughout the action, which lasted for over two hours, drivers honked
their horns and passers-by stopped to express support. Some denounced
Canada's role as a stooge for the U.S. and its interference in the
internal affairs of the countries of Latin American and the Caribbean,
including through the Lima Group and the Organization of American
States.   
This article was published in
Volume 50 Number 40 - October 24, 2020
Article Link:
Resounding
Victory for the People in Bolivian Election: Mass Mobilization Sweeps Reactionary Coup Forces from Office - Claude Brunelle
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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