Evo Morales says he’d welcome election audit in Bolivia

Bolivian President Evo Morales welcomed an international appreciation for his re-election of the dispute on Saturday and said he would vote a second time if a voting scam was found.

Election officials said the socialist leader had enough votes on Sunday to avoid the December runoff against his closest rival, former President Carlos Mesa, so he would have seen opponents opposing him.

Mesa and other opponents insisted on election fraud, and Bolivia protested for nearly a week in major cities. The United States, the European Union and some neighboring national organizations say the outcome is so close that disputes are best in second place.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the World Organization supports the audit of Bolivia's election results by OAS.

"Let them come and thank you-ballot voting, ballot box ballot box, by city, by city, by province! If I accompany them and have a scam, the next day I will call the second round," said Bolivia's first Aboriginal president.

The protests calling for a second round of voting continued on Saturday, with massive marches and road barricades in eight of the nine regions of the Andes.

In La Paz, protesters marched to the center of the city near the government palace, where people pushed out windows as a sign of support.

As a result of 100{7be40b84a6a43fc4fae13304fce9a2695859798abfc41afd127b9f8b21c5f9c5} voting on Sunday elections, 47.08{7be40b84a6a43fc4fae13304fce9a2695859798abfc41afd127b9f8b21c5f9c5} of voting rights in Sunday elections won runner-up Mesa with 36.51{7be40b84a6a43fc4fae13304fce9a2695859798abfc41afd127b9f8b21c5f9c5}, winning by more than 10{7be40b84a6a43fc4fae13304fce9a2695859798abfc41afd127b9f8b21c5f9c5} point difference. Morales declared himself a winner, but the Supreme Court judges did not declare a winner.

Opponents of Morales questioned the fairness of voting numbers, including a 24-hour suspension that could not explain the fairness of voting results.

Mesa accused the president of "memorial fraud" for his fourth consecutive victory. In the end, Morales accused his opponents of trying to banish him with an internationally supported coup.

The United States, Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia urged Bolivia to open the final between Morales and Mesa, who was ahead of seven other candidates.

The Venezuelan, Cuban and Mexican governments celebrated Morales' victory.

Officials announced quick voting results a few hours after the close of Sunday's polls, suspected election fraud when officials suddenly failed to disclose the results. Morales was taking the lead at the time, but a few percentage points away from the 10-point edge needed to avoid spills.

Twenty four hours later, the electorate announced a sudden renewed figure, with 95 percent of votes cast, and Morales found that it was 0.7 percentage points short of the 10-point advantage.

Morales, a 60-year-old from Bolivian highland Aymara, was elected for the first time in 2006 and easily won two elections, reigning in a more than 10-year commodity economy boom. He paved the road, sent Bolivia's first satellite into space and curbed inflation.

Nevertheless, dissatisfaction with the rejection of accepting the results of the 2016 referendum, especially to limit the president's term, is growing.

Source: AP