For his part, former head of state Evo Morales called the withdrawal of Agnès “a double betrayal of her supporters and candidates”.
One of the favourites in the Bolivian presidential race, Carlos Mesa, on Thursday welcomed the decision of Acting Head of State Jeanine Agnès to withdraw from the elections and expressed his willingness to engage in dialogue with her.
“I appreciate the decision taken by President Janine Agnès, who contributed to the defence of democracy. We will always be ready for dialogue”, – Mesa wrote on Twitter, who already held the highest state office in 2003-2005.
For his part, former head of state Evo Morales called the withdrawal of Agnès “a double betrayal of her supporters and candidates”. “She made this decision a long time ago, and there was still an agreement to ensure impunity,” he wrote on Twitter. In his view, Agnès’s “new alliance” guaranteed that if Mesa wins, no case of corruption or the deaths of protesters would be brought against her.
Agnès had previously announced that she was withdrawing her candidacy because she believed that the division of votes between opponents of the former government could lead to the victory of the former Minister of Economy and presidential candidate Luis Arce of the left-wing Movement for Socialism. Previously, a survey conducted by the Catholic organization Fundacion Jubileo showed that 40.3% of respondents would vote for Arce, which means he has a chance of winning the first round. 26.2% of respondents intend to support Mesa, while 10.6% would vote for Agnes.