BOLIVIA 2019 Final Report
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European Union Election Expert Mission BOLIVIA 2019 Final Report [Flag of host country] General Elections 20 October 2019 European Union Election Expert Mission BOLIVIA 2019 FINAL REPORT General Elections 20 October 2019 EU Election Expert Missions are independent from the institutions of the European Union. The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy and position of the European Union. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................... 3 2. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 5 3. POLITICAL CONTEXT ......................................................................................................... 5 4. IMPLEMENTATION OF PREVIOUS EU EOM RECOMMENDATIONS .................... 7 5. LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND ELECTORAL SYSTEM .................................................... 7 5.1 Electoral system ................................................................................................................... 7 5.2 Legal framework .................................................................................................................. 8 6. ELECTION ADMINISTRATION ......................................................................................... 9 6.1 TSE´s decision-making ...................................................................................................... 10 6.2 TSE´s transparency and communications .......................................................................... 11 6.3 Operational aspects of the elections ................................................................................... 11 7. VOTER REGISTRATION .................................................................................................... 13 7.1 Out-of-country registration ................................................................................................ 14 8. REGISTRATION OF CANDIDATES ................................................................................. 14 8.1 Presidential and Vice-Presidential primary elections ......................................................... 14 8.2 Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidate resignation issues ........................................ 15 8.3 Legislative Assembly candidates ....................................................................................... 15 9. CAMPAIGN ENVIRONMENT ............................................................................................ 16 9.1 Campaign messages ........................................................................................................... 17 9.2 Use of state resources ......................................................................................................... 17 10. CAMPAIGN FINANCE ..................................................................................................... 18 10.1 Sources of campaign finance ............................................................................................ 18 10.2 Limits on campaign spending .......................................................................................... 18 10.3 Oversight of party and campaign financing ..................................................................... 19 11. MEDIA ................................................................................................................................. 19 11.1 Access to media during the election campaign ................................................................ 20 11.2 The role of social media ................................................................................................... 21 12. PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN ....................................................................................... 22 13. PARTICIPATION OF NATIONAL MINORITIES ........................................................ 23 14. PARTICIPATION OF VULNERABLE GROUPS .......................................................... 24 14.1 Participation of people with disabilities ........................................................................... 24 14.2 Participation of LGBTI groups ........................................................................................ 25 15. CIVIL SOCIETY AND INTERNATIONAL OBSERVATION ..................................... 25 16. ELECTORAL DISPUTES ................................................................................................. 26 1 16.1 Candidate challenges ........................................................................................................ 26 16.2 Electoral justice in relation to campaign violations ......................................................... 26 16.3 Monitoring of media compliance ..................................................................................... 28 16.4 Complaints and appeals on election day and during the results process .......................... 28 17. POLLING, COUNTING AND TABULATION OF RESULTS ..................................... 28 17.1 Voting ............................................................................................................................... 29 17.2 Counting ........................................................................................................................... 29 18. RESULTS AND POST-ELECTION ENVIRONMENT ................................................. 30 18.1 Preliminary results system (TREP) .................................................................................. 30 18.1.1 Decision to stop the TREP ........................................................................... 31 18.1.2 Decision to re-start the TREP ...................................................................... 31 18.2 Final results ...................................................................................................................... 31 18.2.1 Irregularities and TEDs/TSE response to irregularities ....................................... 32 18.2.2 Announcement of Final Results ........................................................................... 33 18.3 Post-election context ........................................................................................................ 34 18.3.1 OAS audit and reactions to the audit ................................................................... 35 18.3.2 Audit findings and recommendations .................................................................. 35 18.3.3 Consequences of the audit report ......................................................................... 36 19. RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................................................... 37 2 1. SUMMARY • The general elections in Bolivia were held on 20 October 2019 to elect the president and vice- president, as well as the Legislative Assembly of 130 deputies and 36 senators. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) declared the incumbent president Evo Morales the winner. There were widespread irregularities, confirmed by an Organisation of American States (OAS) audit released on 10 November, which recommended fresh elections with a new TSE. Evo Morales resigned on the same day and was replaced on 12 November by opposition President of the Senate Jeanine Áñez, with the support of the Constitutional Court. The new government will need to set the date and timelines for the new elections and lead political negotiations about the appointment of new TSE members. • The event that defined the 2019 general elections was the controversy over Morales´ candidacy. Morales and his party, Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS), ignored the results of the 2016 referendum to abolish the constitutional presidential term limits. A controversial Constitutional Court decision followed in 2017, declaring the term limits unconstitutional, which allowed Morales to compete for a fourth consecutive term in office. This generated a fierce debate and was extensively criticized. There was a widely held belief that Morales was very reluctant to relinquish power. • The elections were marked by a widespread fear of fraud before they took place and numerous allegations of fraud after they took place. There was very low public confidence in the impartiality of the TSE, perceived as subject to government control. The TSE did little to redress the lack of confidence in their impartiality. They did not take action against the blatant misuse of state resources, they blocked the publication of an opinion poll that gave poor results to Morales, and they were slow to explain unusual increases in the voter register, including the out-of-country register in countries with high numbers of MAS voters. In the year leading up to the elections, three TSE members resigned and there were widespread resignations and dismissals of senior staff, leading to a perception of the TSE´s increasing politicisation and loss of technical capacity. • The 2018 Political Organisations Law introduced internal democracy within parties. Presidential primaries were held for the first time in January 2019. However, these primaries were held on an unexpectedly short timeframe and all nine presidential tickets stood unopposed. Opposition candidates speculated that the real motive for holding the primaries was to give legitimacy to Morales´ controversial candidacy. The opposition was unable to unite behind one single