The TSE Ruling
To the surprise of virtually no one, on December 4 Bolivia’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) agreed to place President Evo Morales on the ballot for the 2019 election—despite the Constitution’s term limits and the results of a popular referendum held on February 21, 2016, that rejected his bid for a fourth consecutive term.
The ruling validated a 2017 decision by the Plurinational Constitutional Court (TCP), that term limits amounted to a violation of Morales’s right to run, and of voters’ rights to elect him, based on an inter-American treaty to which Bolivia subscribes.
Still, 2 out of 6 TSE members voted against Morales’s candidacy, following the earlier resignation of the TSE chairwoman who was another potential dissenter. The apparent rupture within the TSE, which functions as a “fourth arm” of Bolivia’s government, mirrors the increasing polarization of Bolivian society over Morales’s decision to run again.