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href="https://orinocotribune.com/morales-mas-won-october-polls-fairly-will-win-again-unless-anez-govt-defrauds-voters-journo/">https://orinocotribune.com/morales-mas-won-october-polls-fairly-will-win-again-unless-anez-govt-defrauds-voters-journo/</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Morales' MAS Won October Polls Fairly,
Will Win Again Unless Anez Gov't Defrauds Voters</h1>
March 13, 2020</div>
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<p><strong>MIT researchers have thrown the Organisation of
American States’ (OAS) audit of Bolivia’s October
elections into question. According to La Resistencia
Bolivian journalist Alberto Echazu, the OAS should be
held responsible for the November coup, especially
given that the same entity was invited by the de facto
government to monitor the 3 May vote</strong>.</p>
<p>By Ekaterina Blinova</p>
<p>On 27 February, John Curiel and Jack R. Williams from
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
published an op-ed in The Washington Post revealing that
the Organisation of American States’ (OAS) statistical
analysis and conclusions about the Bolivian October
election’s “fraud” appear to be “deeply flawed”.</p>
<p>In response, the OAS denounced the report as “neither
honest, nor fact-based nor comprehensive” and stated
that it stood by its findings.</p>
<p>Back in October 2019, the OAS’ preliminary audit of the
voting in Bolivia became the trigger for the nation-wide
unrest which subsequently led to the ousting of the
country’s President Evo Morales, the persecution of
members of his Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) party
and violence resulting in loss of life.</p>
<p><strong>OAS Audit’s Flawed, International Researchers
Say</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p>“[The MIT] study is just one in a series of studies
by researchers from around the world that found the
OAS report flawed and just an excuse to back the coup
that was already in progress,” says Alberto Echazu, a
political analyst and journalist with La Resistencia
Bolivia. “All of them, including a large number of
academics and intellectuals, have stated that there is
no evidence to support the fraud storyline.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Indeed, on 22 October 2019 the Washington DC-based
Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) released
a statement outlining the flaws in the OAS audit on the
heels of the election drama. The think tank continued to
raise the alarm over the OAS’ data and methods in
November and later commissioned MIT Election Data and
Science Lab researchers to independently verify the
numerical and statistical results of CEPR’s final study.</p>
<p>Apart from this, on 2 December, The Guardian published
a letter signed by 98 economists and researchers who
called upon the OAS “to retract its misleading
statements about the election, which have contributed to
the political conflict.”</p>
<p>Among other matters, the statisticians draw attention
to the fact that the OAS released a fallacious press
release on 21 October which claimed that there had been
a “drastic and hard-to-explain change in the trend of
the preliminary results.” The entity – that is partially
funded by the US – referred to a pause in the “quick
count”: with 84% of the votes tallied up, Morales led
with 7.9% points; after a break, with 95% ballots
counted, his margin mounted over 10%. The researchers
elaborate that this change was “neither ‘drastic’ nor
‘hard to explain'”, concluding that Morales did win in
October.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“For any common person familiar with Bolivia’s
history and territorial configuration, it is general
knowledge that the voting from rural areas comes in
significantly later, as they are located far away from
capital cities, and these are the regions where MAS
has almost absolute support,” explains Echazu.”This
alone would negate the idea that there was a change in
the trend after the preliminary count was halted. In
that regard, the studies just confirm technically what
common sense and general knowledge would dictate.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The journalist reveals that “MAS is going to demand
that the OAS answer for the violations against human
rights and assassinations that took place after its
report was published, making the OAS and its General
Secretary, Luis Almagro, responsible for the coup and
the establishment of a de facto government.”</p>
<p><a
href="https://orinocotribune.com/the-organization-of-american-states-is-eroding-faith-in-democracy/"
target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">RELATED
CONTENT: The Organization of American States Is
Eroding Faith in Democracy</a></p>
<p>He notes that the de facto Anez government is trying to
discredit and mute the latest study by MIT by
groundlessly claiming that it was conducted at the
request of Morales supporters.</p>
<p><strong>How La Paz is Disrupting the MAS Campaign</strong><br>
At the same time, La Paz is continuing to throw sand in
the MAS gears ahead of the 3 May elections, the
journalist highlights. In late February Bolivia’s
supreme electoral tribunal disqualified Evo Morales, who
was granted political asylum in Argentina, from running
for Senate because he no longer met residency
requirements.</p>
<p>Speaking to Reuters in early March, the former Bolivian
president lambasted La Paz and their alleged US backers
for preventing him from running for the presidency and
Senate. Having said that he has no doubts that MAS would
come out on top again, he voiced serious concerns about
the forthcoming 3 May vote arranged by the country’s
political right with OAS and USAID assistance, presuming
that it could be fraudulent or followed by a coup.</p>
<div>
<blockquote data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">These are Bolivian MAS
supporters, arriving for a rally in Chuquisaca.</p>
<p>Demographically (class, ethnicity, culture), this
march is the exact opposite of the protests against
Evo before the coup. <a
href="https://t.co/PDRLBWtQii">pic.twitter.com/PDRLBWtQii</a></p>
<p>— Ollie Vargas (@OVargas52) <a
href="https://twitter.com/OVargas52/status/1237012021608136706?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March
9, 2020</a></p>
</blockquote>
</div>
<p>Echazu outlines a series of measures taken by the de
facto government which were aimed at disrupting the
left-leaning party’s campaign.</p>
<p>“First, there is an attempt to proscribe MAS’
candidates”, he says. “The de facto government has
already started a campaign to find a cause, any one
would do, to nullify Luis Arce’s presidential candidacy.
There is no case against him, so it will take an illegal
action to keep him off the ballot.”</p>
<p>Arce remains by far the strongest candidate in the
presidential race, according to the recent polls, with
the facto interim president Jeanine Anez and Carlos Mesa
tied in second place.</p>
<p>“The de facto regime is very well aware of Arce’s
strength, so an action to challenge his candidacy,
probably in the final days of the electoral campaign, is
to be expected,” the journalist warns.</p>
<div>
<blockquote data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Bolivia's MAS presidential
candidate, Luis Arce and VP candidate, David
Choquehuanca, given a hero's welcome in the rural
town of Culpina, Chuquisaca.</p>
<p>The urban area of this region (Sucre) is a hotbed
of racism and discrimination. But the rural workers
here back the MAS. <a
href="https://t.co/YqPz7TTIrI">pic.twitter.com/YqPz7TTIrI</a></p>
<p>— Ollie Vargas (@OVargas52) <a
href="https://twitter.com/OVargas52/status/1235986596719140874?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March
6, 2020</a></p>
</blockquote>
</div>
<p><strong>Second</strong>, there is a media blockade
imposed by La Paz, according to Echazu:</p>
<p><a
href="https://orinocotribune.com/bolivias-anez-in-her-labyrinth/"
target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">RELATED
CONTENT: Bolivia’s Añez in Her Labyrinth</a></p>
<p> No MAS demonstrations and rallies are being covered by
the government-controlled media.</p>
<p>· Information about the November could is silenced.</p>
<p>· Studies demonstrating the absence of fraud in the
last election by researchers and institutions are
suppressed.</p>
<p>· Condemnations of human rights violations in Bolivia
by the de facto government issued by international
institutions are censored.</p>
<p>· Little if any news emerge in the media about Morales
and demonstrations in his favour have been held around
the world during his exile in Argentina, according to
the journalist.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“This, of course, affects the [MAS] campaign, as the
regime is trying to show a peaceful country, where
everything is fine and the only people that oppose the
‘transitional government’ are the delinquent fanatics
who are MAS supporters,” he emphasises.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>Third</strong>, the de facto government
demonstrates its intent to prevent MAS from mobilising
and holding demonstrations ahead of the elections, the
journalist points out.</p>
<p>“It is the case of the tropics area of Cochabamba,
where the federations of coca leaf producers are
located, a symbolic stronghold of MAS,” he explains.
“The de facto government has threatened them with
calling off the election in that region if they march
into the capital city of Cochabamba, this is, not
allowing them to vote.”</p>
<p><strong>Finally</strong>, [there are] attacks and
persecution against alternative media, including La
Resistencia Bolivia, Echazu highlights.</p>
<div>
<blockquote data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Bolivian press worker Rene
Esteban Guarachi denounces his arrest and beating by
Añez regime forces in El Alto, for his crime of
covering police repression on Thursday in Senkata.
(1 of 3) <a href="https://t.co/ESz3Vj4kfn">pic.twitter.com/ESz3Vj4kfn</a></p>
<p>— Camila (@camilateleSUR) <a
href="https://twitter.com/camilateleSUR/status/1236737493099307010?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March
8, 2020</a></p>
</blockquote>
</div>
<p>“[The government says] we are seditious and
cyber-terrorists, so we can expect to be put in jail at
any given moment if we maintain our anti-government
editorial line and with our coverage of the repression,
as it is happening while I am writing these words, the
repression against citizens of El Alto has a new chapter
and a journalist that was at the scene was arrested,” he
emphasises.</p>
<p><em>Featured image: © AFP 2020 / ALEJANDRO PAGNI</em></p>
<p><a
href="https://sputniknews.com/analysis/202003101078524806-morales-mas-won-october-polls-fairly-will-win-again-unless-anez-govt-defrauds-voters--journo"
target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Source URL:
Sputnik</a></p>
<p>Edited by OT/EF</p>
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