The ruling prevents the nation’s first Indigenous president from contesting elections scheduled in August 2025.
Bolivia’s constitutional courtroom has barred former President Evo Morales from operating once more for elected workplace, stopping him from contesting subsequent 12 months’s presidential election.
The ruling, made public on Friday, additionally reaffirms a 2023 courtroom order {that a} president can’t serve greater than two phrases, whether or not consecutive or not, and “with out the potential for extending it to a 3rd time period”.
Bolivia’s first Indigenous president, Morales led the nation from 2006 to 2019 and was extraordinarily in style till he tried to bypass the structure and search a fourth time period.
The leftist received that vote however was pressured to resign in 2019 amid lethal protests over alleged election fraud and fled the nation.
He returned after his former ally Luis Arce received the presidency in 2020. However since then, the 2 males have struggled for management over the governing celebration, Motion Towards Socialism (MAS).
The constitutional courtroom’s ruling got here in response to a parliamentarian’s request to make clear doubts about its December 2023 resolution.
It additionally comes a couple of month into protests by Morales’s supporters, who’ve blocked roads, taken troopers hostage and referred to as for Arce to resign.
The protests started on October 14 after prosecutors charged Morales with statutory rape over his alleged relationship with a 15-year-old lady whereas in workplace.
Morales has denied the allegations, saying they had been introduced by Arce’s authorities to stop him from making a political comeback.
Political tensions have additional intensified in current weeks after Morales accused the federal government of tried assassination in late October.
In response, the Arce administration accused Morales of staging an try on his personal life, saying the pictures fired at his automobile got here after he tried to run a police checkpoint.
The 65-year-old former president has not but commented on the newest courtroom resolution.
However his lawyer, Orlando Ceballos, referred to as the choice politically motivated and an try to “disqualify” Morales.
Bolivia will maintain its subsequent presidential election in August 2025.
“For sure this ushers in a brand new period of politics in Bolivia,” opposition legislator Marcelo Pedrazas advised journalists on Friday after the choice was issued.
“In 2025, we’ll have an election with out Evo Morales on the poll.”
On Friday, legislators loyal to Morales triggered chaos in Congress, shouting and throwing flowers earlier than Arce’s deliberate yearly tackle and forcing him to ship his speech from the presidential palace.
