According to Janine Agnès, if the opponents of the past government cannot join forces, former President Evo Morales will return to power.
“Today I am withdrawing my candidacy for president of Bolivia for the sake of democracy”, – she said in a video message broadcast by Unitel.
“I am doing this because there is a risk that votes will be divided among the candidates and as a result the [party] Moving towards socialism will win the election”, – added Agnès. In her opinion, if the opponents of the past government cannot join forces, “Evo Morales will come back to power and democracy will lose.
Previously, a survey conducted by the Catholic organization Fundacion Jubileo showed that Luis Arce, the former Minister of Economy and presidential candidate of the left-wing Movement for Socialism party, was ahead of his rivals in the struggle for the presidency and had a chance of winning the first round. 26.2% of respondents intend to support the former president of Bolivia, Carlos Mesa (who held the post in 2003-2005). 10.6% of respondents would vote for Agnes.
The Bolivian presidential election took place on 20 October 2019. According to the Supreme Electoral Court, Morales, who was the current Head of State at the time, received the majority of votes. His main rival, Carlos Mesa, stated that he would not accept his opponent’s victory in the first round.
After three weeks of demonstrations, Morales resigned. Janine Agnès, Second Deputy Speaker of the Upper House of Parliament, took over the duties of acting Head of State before the new elections. The Supreme Electoral Court annulled the results of the presidential and parliamentary elections and called for new elections, which were originally scheduled for 3 May but were postponed to 18 October due to the pandemic.