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The president of Bolivia, Luis Arceand the former president Evo Morales (2006-2019) are engaged in a new struggle to control the ruling party Movement to Socialism (MAS). The followers of both politicians called two parallel congresses that seek to dominate the party, with a view to the 2025 presidential elections.

The distance between the two has grown in recent months and the polarization in the MAS intensifies, while the sectors related to each leader seek to proclaim them, separately, as the “sole” candidate of the ruling party.

Morales and his followers held a congress in October 2023 in the Tropic of Cochabambain which the former president was declared the absolute leader of the party and “only” presidential candidate, but the event was canceled by the Supreme Electoral Court (SEC) due to several irregularities and ordered its repetition.

Arce and the vice president David Choquehuanca They did not attend the congress, arguing that they did not have adequate representation of all the social sectors that make up the MAS.

Morales declared in a recent interview with EFE that Luis Arcewho was his Minister of Economy, betrayed the ideology of the ruling party and seeks to “turn it to the right.”

For his part, the president said that Morales is his “main opponent,” as he is constantly questioning his management, a distancing that began at the end of 2021, a year after Arce assumed the Presidency of the country.

The division was felt more strongly during the MAS anniversary, each one celebrated it separately and, as is customary, their speeches were loaded with criticism and questions against the other.

According to Arce, the MAS is a “historical subject because it is not a person, it is a community subject,” in clear reference to the absolute leadership that former President Morales exercises over the party.

Arce officials and members of official social organizations loyal to the president have attacked Morales’ “ambition” to dominate the MAS and his “insistence” to proclaim himself as the sole candidate.

Morales seeks to return to the presidency

Morales’ presidential aspirations are at risk, since the electoral body presented four observations to the new congress convened by its supporters for the month of June.

The TSE indicated that in the call “there was no consensus with the social organizations that make up the MAS” and that only 8 of the 14 members of the MAS board of directors signed the call.

In the interview with EFE, Evo Morales warned that if he was not allowed to compete as a presidential candidate, there would be “a social upheaval” in the country. Days later, he moderated his position and said that if they want to remove him from the electoral race, they must do so in a closed primary election.

In the midst of this scuffle, after the appointment of the “presidential delegate” to the TSE, Morales accused Arce of placing Gustavo Avila with the sole purpose of disqualifying his candidacy and “outlawing the MAS.”

And he declared a “state of emergency,” considering that this designation is “an attack on his presidential candidacy.”

Likewise, he once again challenged the president to a closed primary election to choose the MAS candidate for 2025, and promised to support Luis Arce, if he wins in the party consultation. EFE (I)