Mesa cries foul; turmoil flares in Bolivia after Morales declared official winner
Record ID:
1438658
Mesa cries foul; turmoil flares in Bolivia after Morales declared official winner
- Title: Mesa cries foul; turmoil flares in Bolivia after Morales declared official winner
- Date: 25th October 2019
- Summary: LA PAZ, BOLIVIA (OCTOBER 24, 2019) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SHOTS) POLICEMEN ON MOTORBIKES IN STREET FIRING TEAR GAS TEAR GAS CANISTER IN STREET GIRL WALKING THROUGH CLOUDS OF TEAR GAS IN STREET POLICE IN STREET FIRING TEAR GAS CANISTERS POLICEMEN MOVING CONTAINER FROM MIDDLE OF STREET AND BLAZING BARRICADE VARIOUS OF POLICEMEN TRYING TO PUT OUT FIRE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) RESIDENT, CLAUDIA GRAGEDA, SAYING: "The people will not give up, we will not go abroad because this is our country. We will not go hungry, we will defend it with our life. To die before becoming slaves, to live and we are here for our children, for their future, to not live in a dictatorship." CARS AMID CLOUDS OF TEAR GAS
- Embargoed: 8th November 2019 02:52
- Keywords: Bolivia election Morales Mesa reaction final count
- Location: LA PAZ, BOLIVIA
- City: LA PAZ, BOLIVIA
- Country: Bolivia
- Topics: Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
- Reuters ID: LVA001B2LHR2F
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Unrest unravelled in La Paz on Thursday (October 24) after a final vote tally by Bolivia's electoral board gave President Evo Morales an outright win in the first-round election, with 47.07% of ballots compared to 36.51% for runner-up Carlos Mesa, data on the board's website showed.
Mesa cried foul and urged the general population to continue protesting peacefully.
Morales' 10.56 point lead with 99.99% of votes counted means he does not have to face Mesa, a former president, in a riskier second round run-off, after a disputed race in which the opposition has alleged fraud and Morales has accused rivals of staging a "coup."
A spokeswoman for Bolivia's electoral board said 0.01% votes have been voided in the region of Beni with new voting there scheduled for November. She added they are not enough to change the outcome. The president of the electoral office in Beni said a little over 500 people will vote again due to the annulments.
With the official result, Morales, already Latin America's longest-serving president, wins a fourth term in a row, allowing him to govern the landlocked South American country through 2025 for a total of 19 years.
(Production: Santiago Limachi, Monica Machicao, Herbert Villarraga, Geraldine Downer) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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