La Paz, Oct 18 (IANS) Bolivia’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) has announced that Sunday’s general elections will be monitored by 213,600 citizen observers.
Over 7.3 million Bolivians will be eligible to vote on Sunday in the elections for a new President, Vice President, Senators, Deputies, and others for the period of 2020-2025.
To remove any doubts regarding transparency, the electoral body is guaranteeing the presence of various observation and control bodies, Vice President of the TSE Maria Angelica Ruiz told Xinhua news agency on Saturday.
“The citizen observers are the first guarantors of the transparency and cleanliness of voting in their neighbourhoods, localities, or communities.
“They publicly count the votes and fill out the fundamental document of the election: the minutes, where the results of each candidacy are recorded,” Ruiz said.
Special election observation missions are expected from a dozen international organizations, such as the European Union, the Organization of American States and the UN, as well as several Bolivian civic bodies.
Ahead of the elections, Bolivia’s interim President Jeanine Anez quit the election race last month, saying that she did not want to split the vote and see the return to office of former President Evo Morales’ Mas socialist party, the BBC reported.
Anez was sworn in last year after Morales, who currently lives in Argentina, resigned and left the country amid allegations of electoral fraud.
Morales later said he was forced into exile by the police and the military.
He served as Bolivia’s President for almost 14 years, from 2006 to 2019, after winning three consecutive elections.
–IANS
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