- Title: Bolivian youth ponder a country without Evo Morales as president
- Date: 17th October 2019
- Summary: VARIOUS, KANTUTA PLAYING GUITAR NEXT TO HIS SISTER
- Embargoed: 31st October 2019 15:26
- Keywords: challenger Bolivia presidential youth elections runoff President Evo Morales campaign young people second round
- Location: LA PAZ, BOLIVIA
- City: LA PAZ, BOLIVIA
- Country: Bolivia
- Topics: Government/Politics,Elections/Voting,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA004B1HJDJB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Bolivian President Evo Morales first took up the highest seat of power in his Andean nation on January 22, 2006. That means many of Bolivia's youngest voters can barely remember their country without Morales at the helm.
Bolivian youth - like the country at large - appear to be divided on whether Morales deserves another term in office.
University student Yubinca Villena says she was 11 when Morales first came to power and she supports his government because her country now has "total sovereignty," and "economic stability."
Bolivian young person Reynaldo Kantuta, however, is opposed to Morales on the grounds that the big changes he expected haven't materialized.
Morales is Bolivia's first indigenous president and won his first three elections in the first-round.
While Morales is popular in rural areas neglected by previous governments, his support has slipped in cities where government abuse is a concern.
He is under fire for seeking another term in defiance of constitutional term limits and a national referendum that voted against him being able to do so.
Morales is likely to win the first round on Oct. 20, according to a poll from the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés (UMSA) and other academic and civil organisations.
However, the margin over the second-place candidate, Carlos Mesa, would be sufficiently narrow to warrant a second-round head-to-head. Mesa, who leads the Citizen Community alliance, is predicted to get around 27% of the first-round vote.
If Morales does not win 40% of votes with a 10-point lead over the runner-up, likely Mesa, the two will face off in a second-round head-to-head on Dec. 15.
(Production: Sergio Limachi, Monica Machicao) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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