Cochabamba, Bolivia (EFE).- Bolivia’s former president Evo Morales (2006-2019) presented his formal resignation from the ruling Movement Towards Socialism (MAS in Spanish) party through his lawyers at the Electoral Tribunal (TSE) on Thursday.
The former president, who was MAS leader for more than three decades, is running for president in the Aug. 17 elections with the Front for Victory (FPV in Spanish) after falling out with President Luis Arce over differences in government and MAS leadership.
“The resignation was presented in defense of our Democratic and Cultural Revolution (as MAS governments have been known since 2005). We cannot be part of a government that has been corrupted and that has betrayed basic principles,” Héctor Rodríguez, who presented Morales’ resignation to the Departmental Electoral Tribunal of the Cochabamba region, told the media.
On Tuesday, Morales presented his official resignation through a delegate, however, the electoral body rejected it, arguing that the procedure had to be done in person, although later clarified that another possibility was through a “specific notarized power of attorney.”
Since October 2024, the former president has been in the Tropic of Cochabamba, his political and union stronghold in the center of the country, surrounded by his ers who want to prevent the execution of an arrest warrant against him for statutory rape aggravated by human trafficking.
Morales stopped being president of MAS in November 2024 after the judicial and electoral authorities validated a congress held in May 2024 by President Arce’s ers which elected pro-government Grover García as the new leader.
Since Monday, MAS militants loyal to Morales started leaving the party to the former president.
However, pro-Morales lawmakers close to the former president will remain in the party to avoid losing their seats in parliament.
TSE member Tahuichi Tahuichi Quispe said that 1,686 militants, out of around a million ed, had left MAS.
The Evo Morales-backed senator Leonardo Loza made said Morales’ ers may present their resignations to MAS “until the day before the general elections.”
Evo Morales has held the presidency of Bolivia three times (2006-2009, 2010-2014, and 2014-2019) and tried to win a fourth term in 2019.
However, the elections were declared “fraudulent” because the ruling party claimed a “coup” against him, a claim denied by the opposition.
The split in the MAS began after the political crisis of 2019 when Morales resigned from the presidency and went into exile in Mexico and Argentina.
Morales said he is qualified to be a presidential candidate despite a 2023 constitutional ruling that states that indefinite re-election is not permitted and that a person can only be president of Bolivia for two , consecutive or not. EFE
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