Page Seven Digital
With divided votes, the process to elect a new Ombudsman seems to have no end. None of the seven candidates achieved 2/3, but the majority of the votes are concentrated in three applicants: Pedro Callisaya, Evelin Cossio and Porfirio Machado.
The one with the most support is Pedro Callisaya, with 65 votes in the first round and 82 in the second, thanks to the ruling party. Still he didn’t get 2/3.
The person with the second most support is Evelin Cossio, who in the second round reached 47 votes, thanks to the support of the Citizen Community (CC).
You can also read: Defender’s choice bogged down by 2/3 foul; even the MAS votes divided
Despite the fact that the ruling party does not have 2/3 in the legislature, the vote of its legislators was also divided between two candidates. For this reason, Porfirio Machado obtained 30 votes in the first round and 11 in the second.
VIDEO: See Pedro Callisaya’s interview at the following link: https://fb.watch/cE8lIjuPyq/
Callisaya was national director of Real Rights, member of the Departmental Court of Justice of La Paz, specialist in Human Rights in the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, national head of the Citizen Services Unit in the Ombudsman of the People and Public Defender in the Ministry of Justice, among others.
Speak and write in Aymara.
According to the evaluation of the Mixed Constitutional Commission, it met the 10 merit criteria required in the call.
VIDEO: See the interview with Evelin Cossio in the following link: https://fb.watch/cE8o6DoBck/
Cossio was a legal advisor to the Departmental Association of Coca Producers (Adepcoca), in addition, she worked as a trainer in different regulations in the Mayor’s Office of Battles, and in the Huichi Huichi, Chicani, and Chicaloma communities.
According to the evaluation, it met six of the 10 merit criteria required in the call.
VIDEO: See the interview with Porfirio Machado in the following link: https://fb.watch/cFj3aQjsgQ/
Machado worked in the Senasag – Bolivia, in the Mayor’s Office of Ancoraimes, the Council of the La Paz District Magistracy, among others.
He speaks and writes in the Aymara language.
According to the evaluation, it met eight of the 10 merit criteria required in the call.
Vote
The opposition party, We Believe, divided its votes between blank and invalid (23 in total). “The opposition has acted according to what it had planned, if it does not give 2/3 (to the MAS), the less it can achieve it because it does not agree internally,” said the head of the Cree caucus, José Carlos Gutiérrez.
Meanwhile, the legislators of Cree and CC declared themselves vigilant for fear of being “surprised.”
“Yesterday we did not allow the MAS to achieve 2/3 and now we declare ourselves in permanent vigilance because an intermediate quarter has been declared and we know the strategies of the MAS,” argued the CC deputy, Beto Astorga.
The legislator explained that if the official majority is found in the reinstatement of the session, the MAS can elect its candidate with 2/3 of the votes of those present as stipulated by law.
The seven candidates in competition are Pedro Francisco Callisaya, Evelin Patricia Cossio, Porfirio Machado, Claudia Andrea Calvo, Rubén Julio Estrada, Luisa Antonia Chipana and Ramiro Leonardo Iquise.
Conade considers that Cossio is the best candidate
Manuel Morales, representative of the National Committee for the Defense of Democracy (Conade), considers that the candidate Evelín Cossio is the most suitable to act as Ombudsman. In addition, he suggested that in the next election it be the town that elects the defender.
“We have seen Evelín Cossio in police cells, courts, seeking the freedom of not dozens, hundreds of producers from Adepcoca de los Yungas, working for their release since 2017. She is a human rights defender and has come for own merit. Of all the candidates she would have a considerable advantage, ”she highlighted.
