Bolivia: Socialists Lead Polls, Coup Plotters Frightened

[Judi Lynn]

Published 3 January 2020 (9 hours 30 minutes ago)

Local media Unitel Friday released a poll according to which 20.7 percent of the Bolivians will vote for the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) presidential candidate, whoever he or she might be.

Currently, 15.7 percent of the citizens are prone to vote for the self-proclaimed interim President Jeanine Añez, who seized power through a U.S.-backed coup d'état.

Former Bolivian President Carlos Mesa is in third place of electoral preferences with 13.8 percent of voting intention. Further down is businessman Marco Pumari with 8.2 percent of popular support.

. . .

"The imminent triumph of MAS makes murderous coup plotters and traitors to their homeland tremble because they will soon be held accountable for their actions," citizen Nelly Salazar tweeted.​​​​​​

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Bolivia-Socialists-Lead-Polls-Coup-Plotters-Frightened-20200103-0004.html

[regnaD kciN]

1. Hopefully, they will hold the elections, and they'll be "clean"...

...but, from what I’ve seen of the current regime, I wouldn’t count on them holding an election they might not win.

Also, I’m a bit confused. Do Bolivian elections have just one round, so that the winner is the one with the highest vote total, even if it’s just a plurality (in this case, just 20.7%)? Or is there a runoff – in which case, the real question is whether the MAS candidate or Añez is able to come away with the lion’s share of the 63.6% of the electorate that prefer one of the other candidates in the first round.