The Constitutional Court (TC) of Bolivia hindered the former president Evo Morales to run for president in the 2025 elections by eliminating the possibility of a politician being reelected to the office indefinitely. The regulation in force until then allowed the politician of indigenous origin to remain in office from 2006 to 2019.
“Restricting the possibility of indefinite reelection is an appropriate measure to ensure that a person does not remain in power,” says the 82page ruling, published this Saturday 30 on the court’s website .
The decision overturns another ruling by the same court in 2017 that had deemed reelection a “human right.” The agreement at the time allowed Morales to run for a third term in 2019. The Bolivian constitution only allowed for consecutive reelection, which Morales had already exhausted by winning the 2015 election. The current decision is final.
The Supreme Court decision stipulates that the president and vice president may not hold office more than twice, regardless of whether it is continuous or not. He also pointed out that “there is no absolute right to postulate indefinitely and that its prohibition is consistent with the American Convention on Human Rights.”
Morales classified the court’s decision as “political.” Photo: Marco Ugarte/AP
The change made by the court is based on a review of the criteria of InterAmerican Court of Human Rights. In 2021, the international advisory body issued an opinion on indefinite reelection at the request of the Colombian government.
Morales classified the decision as “political” and accused the current president and political heir of Luis Arceto devise a plan to exclude him from the 2025 presidential race.
“The TC's political ruling is evidence of the complicity of some judges with the government's 'black plan'… to eliminate us politically and even physically,” Morales said on the social network X, the former Twitter. He added that he was “not afraid” and that “the fight continues.”
Morales has already expressed his desire to run in the 2025 presidential election after verbal clashes with Luis Arce, the current president who has been a political ally and economy minister for almost his entire term in office.
The former president resigned in 2019 after civil unrest broke out over allegations of electoral fraud. After leaving the country, he took power Jeanine Áñezwho is now being tried and convicted on coup charges.
“The TCP puts an end to Evo Morales’ delusion of being reelected forever,” Áñez wrote in X. The opposition leader, Carlos Mesadeclared: “Evo Morales and (then Vice President Álvaro) García Linera violated the Constitution with the complicity of the TCP.”
Arce has the right under the constitution to seek reelection, although he has already said this is not the time to talk about running. The current president and Morales are competing for the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) party's nomination for 2025./AFP and AP