MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd July, 2020) Bolivia's National Civil Committee wants that the general elections scheduled for September 6 be pushed back due to the threat of the spread of the coronavirus, media reported.
In June, interim President Jeanine Anez signed the legislation scheduling the general election for September 6 under pressure from other candidates accusing her of stalling the process to retain power. Anez called on key candidates � ex-President Evo Morales, Luis Arce from Morales' Movement for Socialism, and ex-President Carlos Mesa � to assume the responsibility for holding the general election amid the pandemic, stressing she had not received any scientific rationale proving that the vote may be held.
According to the country's El Deber newspaper, the committee demands that the organization of the September elections be declared invalid and be held when all entities responsible for their technical and medical part consider it safe.
The committee also demanded that the Movement for Socialism (MAS) party be annulled and their candidate Luis Arce be banned from running. In particular, they refer to Arce's comments on an election poll while on air of one of the tv channels. Bolivian law prohibits the dissemination of information about electoral polls or any research on public opinion about elections "in messages with electoral propaganda."
On the night into May 1, the upper house of the Bolivian parliament passed a bill, under which the election should be held no later than August 2. Anez � opposition deputy speaker of the lower house, who assumed power after Morales and other top politicians resigned under pressure from the military � opposed the legislation, stressing that the vote could put the Bolivian people's health at risk. In early June, Bolivia's Electoral Court ordered that the election be delayed to September 6 due to the pandemic, which claimed over 700 lives in the country.
