The Plurinational Constitutional Court of Bolivia issued a ruling on Friday which confirms that re-election in the country is punctual, continuous or discontinuous. Evo Morales (2006-2019) would be prevented from running for president in 2025.
The constitutional order, signed by judges René Espada and Gonzalo Hurtado, establishes that the elected authorities in the legislative, executive and judicial powers have “the exercise of their mandate, only for two periods, continuous or discontinuous, without the possibility of be extended for a third term.
The judgment, which is a response to a call for complement and amendment presented by some legislators, indicates that the Constitution promulgated in 2009, promoted by Morales, aims to “avoid in any way the permanence of a representativein the case of legislative (and) executive bodies, for more than ten years in total.”
This affects Morales’ intentions to run for president again, since he has already governed Bolivia three times (2006-2009, 2010-2014 and 2015-2019).
Likewise, the principle of the Constitutional Court also applies to judges of the judiciary, who can be re-elected once by popular vote, while for electoral members there is no possibility of extension of their mandate.
The resolution also establishes that “no elected authority having exceeded two previous candidacies can candidate and even less exercise “the functions of vice-president, president of Parliament, president of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate”.
This week, Senator Andrónico Rodríguez, close to the official Morales bloc, was elected for the fourth consecutive time president of the Senate.
Opposition lawmaker José Carlos Gutiérrez, one of the lawmakers who appealed, said Efe that the constitutional order is a “clarification” to the decision rendered by this same body at the end of last year.
The constitutional ruling of December 2023 established that in Bolivia, the president and vice-president can only be elected and serve for two mandates, continuous or discontinuous, and that indefinite re-election does not exist and “is not not a human right.”
“With this, What remains for Evo Morales is to leave Bolivia alone and stop trying to acquire power by force, facing justice like any other civilian, because he will never be able to be president again in his life,” Gutiérrez stressed.
This week, in an interview with Efe In LaucaÑMorales reiterated that he “is legally qualified, constitutionally, nationally and internationally” and that the government’s intention, through justice, is to “make people believe that Evo is disqualified.”
The ruling Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) is divided into two camps, with some supporting Morales and others supporting the Bolivian president. Luis Arcédue to internal tensions in the ruling party which began at the end of 2021.
This tension has increased in recent weeks due to the road blockade that Morales supporters maintained for 24 days in the center of the country to demand an end to the protests. investigation into rape and human traffickingalso for respect for the 2023 congress which proclaimed him “single candidate” in the 2025 elections.
Arce’s bloc and Morales’ bloc are also at odds over control of MAS, whose permanence as a party depends on an upcoming meeting in which the board chaired by Morales will be renewed.
