Bolivia’s conservative interim President Jeannine Anez is preparing proposals for rival centrist Carlos Mesa to defeat their common enemy — socialist leader Luis Arce — in September’s election, a minister said Friday, prompting speculation of a coalition.
“There will be big surprises in the next few days, because our president will make very good proposals” to Mesa, Interior Minister Arturo Murillo told the El Deber daily.
Arce, from former leader Evo Morales’ Movement for Socialism (MAS) party, led the most recent opinion polls with 33.3 percent, ahead of former president Mesa on 18.3 and Anez on 16.9.
The party was in power from 2006-19 under Morales and currently has a majority in both houses of parliament.
But, without giving further details, Murillo said “it’s not difficult” to beat MAS at the elections.
To win outright in the September 6 general election, the leading presidential candidate must get at least 40 percent with a 10-point lead over the nearest challenger, otherwise there will be a second round run-off in October.
“We will see how open Mr Mesa is,” said Murillo, leading analysts to muse whether Anez is proposing a coalition to create a united front against MAS.
However, Anez’s vice-presidential candidate, Samuel Doria Medina, wrote on Twitter that no such negotiation had been discussed and that it was merely Murillo’s “personal proposal.”
Doria Medina, who lost two presidential elections to Morales, said “there needs to be ample preparation for a dialogue otherwise it’s a waste of time.”
Mesa’s campaign chief, Ricardo Paz, said the former president was “open to talk with all democratic political forces and build convergence.”
However, he said “the time for pre-election accords has already passed.”
Mesa stood against Morales in the controversial election last October when the then-leader won an unconstitutional fourth term.
However, following three weeks of protests, he resigned and fled the country after an Organization of American States audit found clear evidence of vote rigging.
Mesa then supported Anez’s assumption of the interim presidency as she was the highest ranking public official at the time.
Without referencing either directly, Morales said on Twitter: “The protagonists of the coup d’etat and those responsible for the health and economic crisis massacres in Bolivia are joining interests to reissue the mega-coalition of neoliberalism.”
Morales, who lives in exile in Argentina, is barred from standing in the election in any capacity.
