Bolivia’s leftist President Luis Arce, who took office in 2020, has stepped away from the nation’s presidential election to avoid a humiliating loss as his polling continues to plunge.
The socialist governing party is in turmoil as Arce and former President Evo Morales fight for leadership of their leftist bloc.
The decision was made in a late-night televised address, as Breitbart News reported.
“I will not be a factor in dividing the popular vote,” Arce said in his speech.
He continued by warning that a fragmented base would give Bolivia’s right-wing and centrist parties a shot at power.
The nation has endured nearly two decades of socialist rule.
“Much less will I facilitate the realization of a fascist right-wing project … that seeks to destroy the productive social economic model.”
The long-running animosity between Arce and Morales has been hastening an already-in-the-works economic disaster.
The state of he economy has MAS’s working-class base of support in a frenzy.
After claiming one of the lowest inflation rates in the region, Bolivia is now battling with one of the highest.
The country has gone from exporting natural gas to importing fuel.
Bolivian pesos are now worth half as much as they are on the official exchange rate.
The nation has come to a standstill due to fuel scarcity.
Bolivia has even run out of money in its central bank.
Even though Morales was part of the foundation of many of the issues the nation faces today, the majority of voters hold Arce responsible for the economic mayhem.
Morales, along with Senate President Andronico Rodríguez, are both on the Left.
They have been gaining in the polls on the president.
Morales felt he had no choice but to secede from the MAS once Arce took control.
He has so he formed his own party to run for office.
The politically ambitious 36-year-old Rodríguez is from Morales’ rural coca-growing area and is thus far undecided about joining the MAS ticket.
Arce’s resignation on Tuesday was allegedly seen as a new chapter in his growing animosity toward Morales.
Morales’s revived campaign platform appeals to the public looking for ways to obtain fuel and investment, and declining poverty rates.
“I challenge former President Evo Morales not to insist on running,” Arce said, “because constitutionally he cannot do so and because the dispersion and fragmentation of the vote would favor the right.”
Six years after his attempt for an unlawful fourth term sparked widespread protests and self-exile in response to pressure from the military, Bolivia’s first Indigenous president, Evo Morales, encounters multiple challenges on his path back to his nation’s highest office.
