Bolivia’s electoral tribunal on Fridaypublished official results from last weekend’s presidential election, confirming leftist Luis Arce’s landslide victory, reports AFP.
With all ballots now counted, Arce finished with 55 percent of the vote,meaning he won with no need for a run-off.
“It is with much humility that we receive this mandate,” Arce said on hisTwitter account. “Now our great challenge is to rebuild the country, torecover stability and hope.”
Centrist former president Carlos Mesa, who conceded defeat on Monday,polled just under 29 percent, with right-wing conservative Luis FernandoCamacho taking 14 percent.
Arce, 57, who served as finance and economy minister under exiled formerpresident Evo Morales, claimed victory after exit polls late on Sunday showed he was heading for a huge win.
Electoral Tribunal president Salvador Romero said Arce and the newlyelected Congress would assume their functions in the first half of November,without specifying an exact date.
It was a stunning result, as opinion polls leading up to the election hadpredicted Arce would come out on top but not garner enough votes to avoid arun-off.
It marks a return to power for Arce’s Movement for Socialism party justunder a year after Morales resigned and fled Bolivia following weeks ofprotests over his controversial reelection.
Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous president, served for almost 14 yearsbut last year stood for — and initially won — an unconstitutional fourthconsecutive term. Bolivia’s constitution limits a president to two successiveterms.
Morales resigned after an Organization of American States audit found theOctober 2019 election had been marred by fraud.
This time, the top electoral body abandoned the planned rapid count toavoid a repeat of last year’s controversy and concentrated on the arduousmanual count of votes that took more than five days to complete.
Some right-wing supporters have taken to the streets in protest atsuspected fraud but international observers including the OAS, the EuropeanUnion and the Carter Center confirmed the election was clean and transparent.
The electoral body said there had been a record 88 percent turnout amongstthe 7.3 million eligible voters. Voting is mandatory in Bolivia for adultsunder 60.
