The Bolivian Electoral Court (TSE) endorsed on Tuesday a new nomination to a fourth term of the president, Evo Morales, who has been in power since January 2006.
The court's decision comes at a time when opposition to Morales' candidacy with protest marches and a national strike called for this Thursday intensifies.
The Full Chamber of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal approved the qualification of eight candidacies to elementary schools in January, among which is that of Evo Morales and his formula Álvaro García, according to the resolution read in a press statement.
A group of young people settled in the outskirts of the TSE on Monday, in a public square in La Paz, to show their rejection of Morales' candidacy.
Former president Carlos Mesa, Morales' main rival in the general elections of October 2019, according to polls, said on Twitter that the TSE "has given a death blow" to democracy.
The TSE has dealt a death blow to our democracy, qualifying as candidate the owner of all powers, Evo Morales
"The submissive action before this authoritarian government is expressed by the TSE, which, like someone who reads an inconsequential instructive, has dealt a death blow to our democracy, qualifying as candidate the owner of all powers, Evo Morales," Mesa wrote.
Another opposition leader, Samuel Doria Medina, defeated three times at the polls by Morales and who by 2019 withdrew his candidacy in favor of a single candidate, trilled that "this is the most serious affront to democracy since its reconquest in 1982."
Stop the dictatorship
Opponents called for "the unity to stop the dictatorship, the opposition must strongly reject that decision and, at the same time, it must unify into a single project to stop the dictatorship," he added.
The ruling party dismissed last year the result of the referendum of 2016 that denied Morales the possibility of a fourth application, alleging that it was achieved under duress about the existence of a son of the president, which later could not be verified. Morales finally achieved by the end of 2017 that the Constitutional Court authorize the president's candidacy for a new term, between 2020 and 2025, arguing that it was his human right to do so.
Meanwhile, a strong opposition to the candidacy of Morales is forged. A front that supports the nomination of businessman Óscar Ortiz called on Tuesday to "fight for respect for the Constitution and the vote of 21F (February 21, 2016), which rejected a new nomination of the president."
Ortiz, who has the support of the powerful governor of Santa Cruz, Ruben Costas, is on Tuesday at the headquarters of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), in Washington, to warn about the unconstitutionality of Morales's nomination and the social conflictivity that can derive a new candidacy.
Three walks advance towards La Paz, one that started from the Andes, another from the subtropical valleys and a third from the plain. All will converge on the seat of government on Thursday to join a national strike.
Opposition forces demand respect for the Constitution and "the sovereignty of the Bolivian people, who in a referendum on February 21 (2016) rejected the re-election" of Morales, said on Monday Eduardo Gutierrez, one of the leaders of the group It runs 150 km from the Andes to La Paz. Grouped into citizen groups, along with opposition parties, the protesters intend to avoid the candidacy of Morales, in power since 2006.
Before this picture, the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Gabriela Montaño, accused the opposition of trying to create "mechanisms of social upheaval".