Bolivia's vote a high-stakes presidential redo

Bolivians cast their votes on Sunday in a high-stakes presidential election redo that could determine the country's democratic future and bring a return of socialism at a time when it is struggling with a raging pandemic and protests over last year’s annulled ballot. Bolivia, once one of the most politically volatile countries in Latin America, experienced a rare period of stability under former President Evo Morales.

Morales, the country’s first Indigenous president, resigned and fled the country late last year after his claimed election win was annulled amid fraud allegations. Protests over the vote and later his ouster set off a period of unrest that caused at least 36 deaths. Morales called his ouster a coup. Sunday’s vote is an attempt to reset Bolivia’s democracy.

The leading contenders are former Economy Minister Luis Arce, who led an extended boom under Morales, and former President Carlos Mesa, a centrist historian and journalist who was second to Morales in the disputed returns released after last year’s vote. Overshadowing the vote is the absence of Morales, who was barred from running for the presidency or even the Senate by electoral authorities following his ouster. Ballots and other materials were delivered to polling stations on Saturday by police and military units without incident, officials said.