Bolivia’s socialist President Evo Morales on Wednesday hailed a decision by the country’s highest court to allow him to run for another re-election as “a great surprise for the people, for the revolutionaries, for the anti-imperialists.” The opposition said it would march against the ruling announced on Tuesday by the Constitutional Court, which paved the way for Morales to run for a fourth term in 2019. The court decision was final and cannot be appealed. The ruling “guarantees a democratic continuity, but also guarantees stability, dignity and work for the Bolivian people,” Morales said during a news conference.
Opposition leaders called for several marches to be held on Wednesday, protesting what they say is “the end of democracy” in the land-locked, natural gas-producing country.
“It means a coup d‘etat, it means trampling the constitution and the most worrying is that Bolivia is approaching the road that Venezuela is on,” Samuel Doria Medina, leader of the National Unity party, told Reuters.
Full Article: Bolivian president welcomes, opposition slams re-election ruling.