BUENOS AIRES, Jan 21 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) – Bolivia’s leftist Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) party, said, it picked former economy minister, Luis Arce, to be its presidential candidate in the general elections to be held in May.
Evo Morales, Bolivia’s former president and the party’s founder, made the announcement in Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires, where he was granted political asylum, after being forced out of office in Nov.
Arce’s running mate will be former Foreign Affairs Minister, David Choquehuanca, who, like Morales, is a member of Bolivia’s majority indigenous population.
“We opted for Luis Arce because economy will be a fundamental topic in MAS’ proposal for Bolivia’s future government,” Morales told reporters.
Arce was minister of economy and public finance between 2006/2017, and again from Jan to Nov, 2019.
Bolivians will choose a new president on May 3, for the second time in eight months, after hard-right factions rejected Morales’ reelection to a fourth term in Oct, citing electoral fraud.
Morales resigned and fled to Mexico, after Bolivia’s military and police forces sided with the opposition and withdrew their support for his leadership.
He later relocated to Argentina to take a more active role in the elections, being organised by the opposition-backed interim government that took over.
