Page Seven and EFE / La Paz
Former Vice President Álvaro García Linera identifies in the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) a separation between the “political and state leadership”, which falls to President Luis Arce and Vice President David Choquehuanca, and the “social leadership”, represented by Evo Morales, as “something new” and that could manifest itself in separate candidacies for the next elections, reported EFE. “Theoretically, they have the possibility (Arce and Choquehuanca) that they could present their candidacy in 2025 and they have every right to do so (…), what happens is that we do not know what their position will be in terms of the elections , if they will be candidates within the MAS or they will not be, ”explained the former authority.
García Linera highlighted Morales’ leadership as a factor of unity “of a very fragmented subordinate and popular plebeian society,” adding that due to the “coup,” Morales did not run as a MAS candidate in the 2020 elections.
In the elections of that year, that party postulated the binomial Arce-Choquehuanca. “In truth, what has united has been the coup, this brutal displacement of the popular sectors of power is what has united them again,” he remarked.
However, he considered that in the face of the 2025 elections it is possible that there will be a “fragmentation of the popular”, and pointed out that now the MAS “no longer has a monopoly” on this type of representation, something that he affirmed has already been perceived. in last year’s subnational elections.
García Linera’s analysis is based on the fact that the conditions in the 2025 elections will be different from those in 2020, since a “radicalization of antagonisms” between the ruling party and the opposition will not be repeated, so the possibility of a fragmentation “is high”.
“Theoretically it is possible to think (of) a fragmentation, hopefully it will not happen, and we have to make an effort so that it does not happen, but the centrifugal tendencies are great”, he mentioned.
The former vice president asserted that the “algorithm” is being sought so that these two sociopolitical forces, that of Arce-Choquehuanca and that of Morales, work in “articulation and coordination.” “We have not found the mechanism of good coordination”, “sometimes there is a spark and another time it is well coordinated”, he maintained.
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In contact with Página Siete, deputy Patricio Mendoza, head of the MAS caucus in Santa Cruz, indicated that García Linera’s analysis “is correct.” “We have two leaderships right now. In the political, governmental sphere, we therefore have Luis Arce Catacora and David Choquehuanca, and we must respect, it is our government, to whom the people legally and constitutionally entrusted, but we also have a popular leader and he is the president of the party (Evo Morales ),” he said.
The legislator indicated that his person, like other legislators, were elected on behalf of the MAS, whose president is Morales. “We have come through the MAS-IPSP, a large political party, from the grassroots, from the popular masses, and we have a president in that party, and the president is called Evo Morales and we have to respect him,” he added.
Mendoza stated that by Constitution, Arce and Choquehuanca can go for re-election, but that this will depend on factors such as the management they carry out and the decision of the party.
“The Constitution is clear. President Lucho is allowed to run again, also the vice president. That won’t be any trouble. That will depend on the management that is carried out, but it will also depend on the political party of the MAS-IPSP, unless they are wanting to run again for another party or another group, which would perhaps fragment and, as far as possible, not We have to break up,” he said.
The deputy of the Citizen Community Alberto Astorga indicated that García Linera forgets that Morales “no longer has the image to be a candidate in 2025” due to antecedents such as “the violation of 21F and monumental fraud.” His colleague, Alejandro Reyes, considers that García Linera in his analysis excludes a third leadership. “He excludes the third force. The third force is that of Mr. Choquehuanca, who is also in an internal dispute and has a social base,” he said.
