Bolivia's Senate President Andrónico Rodríguez (right), with former President Evo Morales (left). Photo: Infobae/File photo.
Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—Bolivian President Luis Arce has announced that he will not be running for re-election in the coming general elections, scheduled for August 2025. His decision comes amid growing political tensions with former president Evo Morales, who was recently expelled from the ruling party, MAS-IPSP.
“I will not be a factor in dividing the popular vote,” Arce said during a nationally broadcast speech this Tuesday, May 13, “much less will I facilitate the realization of a fascist right-wing project that seeks to destroy the Plurinational State, with which they seek to destroy the productive socioeconomic model.”
In his address, President Arce referred to the “extreme polarization in the electoral landscape” and emphasized the need to confront the neoliberal model. “I reaffirm that unity is the only way to save the Plurinational State.”
Arce also urged Evo Morales to step aside and not run in the upcoming elections, proposing Senate leader Andrónico Rodríguez as a potential unity candidate for the left. Early on Wednesday, Morales rejected Arce’s proposal on social media: “Only the people can ask me to decline my candidacy. We have no personal ambitions. We will obey the mandate of the people to save Bolivia once again.”
Although Rodríguez, who currently presides over the Senate, had been leading in pre-election polls, it remained unclear until recently whether he would run. He had initially resisted pressure from his mentor, Evo Morales, who wants to return to power despite legal maneuvers to disqualify him from running. On Saturday, however, Rodríguez decided to run independently, causing significant political upheaval in Bolivia.
Andronico’s response
On Wednesday, Andrónico Rodríguez reaffirmed his intention to run for president, expressing his “commitment to true and transparent unity, built with the people in mind, and not through shady deals or agreements made behind their backs.”
On social media, Rodríguez lamented that “the overreach, the abuse of power, the cases of corruption, the imprisoned peasant brothers, the incessant accusations and attacks, the division of social organizations, and the mobilizations for and against have eroded [the party’s] organic, political, and institutional credibility.”
He added that “a radical change is necessary,” and that despite all the issues facing the country that he described earlier, “we will maintain our political consistency and coherence.”
From this, he made “a sincere call for unity within the national popular bloc, appealing primarily to our organizations and social sectors, rather than to a political leadership that has lost touch with the grassroots.”
His statements came after two other events that have shaped the polarized political scene in recent hours: President Luis Arce’s resignation from his presidential candidacy, and former President Evo Morales’ rejection of Arce’s request to drop his campaign.
Although Rodríguez was already well-known before 2019, it was on that date—the year of Morales’s overthrow—that he rose to the forefront of national politics, leading the resistance against Jeanine Áñez’s de facto government.
To reward his courage and composure, the MAS cadres who remained in Bolivia nominated him as their vice-presidential candidate, but Morales opposed it from exile. Rodríguez instead became a senator for Cochabamba, and, shortly after, president of the chamber. He remained in this position throughout that period.
Armed with a moderate and unity-focused approach amid the MAS split, Rodríguez remained aligned with the Evo faction, without clashing head-on with President Arce and his followers. Until recently, there was speculation that he could be Arce’s running mate on the official MAS ticket, which, by court ruling, now answers to Arce.
Because of this, some analysts speculate that Arce’s move might be a maneuver to displace Morales and impose a candidate that might have better chances to win, while thwarting Evo Morales’ attempts to return to the presidency.
Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff
OT/JRE/AU
