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LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 24 February 2017

BOLIVIA: Morales’ re-election bid stokes controversy

‘21-F Day of the Lie’ is how Bolivia’s ruling Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) is referring to 21 February 2016. Political opponents have baptised it ‘Day of Democracy’. It was on this day that 84.45% of the 6.5m electorate voted by 51.30%-48.70% in a public referendum against amending the 2009 constitution to allow President Evo Morales to seek a further term in the 2019 general elections [WR-16-08]. The MAS attributed the unexpected defeat to a corruption scandal which broke shortly before the vote, implicating Morales but over which he was subsequently vindicated (see sidebar). With Morales having declared at the end of last year his intention to run again regardless [WR-16-50], the vote’s anniversary was marked by thousands taking to the streets both for and against the president, illustrating how polarising the re-election issue remains.

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