Ruling of the Constitutional Court of Bolivia closes the way to a new re-election of Evo Morales

( Spanish) – The Plurinational Constitutional Court of Bolivia (TCP) confirmed that an official cannot seek a second re-election in the country, whether he has held the position consecutively or discontinuously, which closes the way for former president Evo Morales to run for office. the presidential elections of 2025, since he already had the reins of the country between 2006 and 2019.

The ruling, known this Friday, but dated November 1, originates in response to the request of a deputy who sought authorization to run for a third term, in response to which the Court ratified the constitutional limitation to only two elective periods and highlighted that the same restriction extends to the elected authorities of the three branches of the State: Legislative, Executive and Judicial.

These officials, the opinion emphasizes, may serve “only for two terms, whether continuous or discontinuous, without the possibility of extending to a third term.” The purpose of the Constituent Assembly and what is determined by the Constitution, “is to avoid in any way, the permanence of a representative, in the case of the Legislative and Executive bodies for more than 10 years in total; in the Judiciary for more than 12 years; and from the Electoral to only one without the possibility of re-election.”

The ruling also extends “the absolute prohibition of the president of the State from entering the same position” through other forms included in the Constitution and that “no elected authority who has passed two previous candidacies will be able to run, much less hold the positions of vice president, vice president of the State and president or president of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly, president or president of the Chamber of Senators or Deputies.”

The ruling ratifies a Plurinational Constitutional Ruling of December 2023 and whose clarification had been requested by a deputy of the Legislative Assembly who was seeking to run for a second re-election after having served as a regular legislator and, then, as a substitute, in different legislative periods.

In parallel with this ruling, a project by President Luis Arce is underway to call a referendum with the same purpose of limiting elective mandates to two consecutive or separate periods. The project is still under review by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), which in September required the Executive to clarify some aspects of the three questions planned in the consultation.

Morales was president for three periods, the first of them with a constitution, and the next two with a reformed constitution – the current one -, after a ruling by the Constitutional Court interpreted that the first period did not count towards the calculation of the two periods. consecutive as they correspond to different constitutions. But in addition, he also ran for a fourth term in 2019, which ended badly when an OAS technical mission warned of possible fraud and he went into exile after resigning, although he later maintained that it had not been a resignation but supposedly a coup. of State.

Recently, Morales’ aspiration to run again as a presidential candidate in 2025 caused division within the ruling Movement towards Socialism (MAS) and particularly damaged the relationship between the former president and current president Luis Arce.

Morales had not spoken publicly this Friday after this ruling and has already contacted his team for a reaction.

On October 28, Morales said in an interview with that the Arce government is afraid of him “politically” and that what he wants is to “eliminate Evo.”

Karina Maciel contributed to this report.