Thousands of followers of the ruling Movement to Socialism (MAS) met this Friday to define the election of the presidential binomial for the August 17 elections in Bolivia, without the former historical leader, former President Evo Morales (2006-2019), who after losing leadership will present his candidacy for the first time with another political group.

The president of the MAS, Grover García, said in his speech that this congress is to “seek the unity” of the popular bloc and establish an “organic” way to elect the departmental and national leaders of the ruling party.

García pointed out that the election of representatives and candidates will not be done “by finger” or with “imposition” as, he said, happened in the time of Evo Morales, whom he indicated to be the one who defined the MAS candidacies.

The meeting is held in the city of El Alto, neighboring La Paz, with delegations from organizations related to the Government and with the presence of President Luis Arce and Vice President David Choquehuanca.

On Thursday, Morales and his supporters announced that they will step away from the MAS and run for election with a new party, the Front for Victory (FPV), which means a distance between the “evista” bloc, as those loyal to the former president with the faction that supports Arce, known as ‘arcistas’.

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In this regard, García said that “those who go to other parties” are the “true traitors” and that this will become clear at the conclusion of the official meeting.

Although President Arce has not confirmed that he will go to re-election, he is emerging as the main option of the MAS to the Presidency, since some sectors began to propose his name in the recent public events and delivery of public works to which the Head of State has attended.

For his part, Arce warned the crowd that attended the event that in the next elections they will face “two visions of the country”, among which the MAS promotes, oriented to deepen the Plurinational State, the plural economy and industrialization, with the opposition that seeks to return to the “old Republic”, privatization and economic dependence.

“Our political instrument has the challenge of facing these new elections with all the arsenal we have (…) and with the unity of our social organizations,” said the president.

Luis Arce has increased his travels throughout the country this year, an average of two daily since January, for the delivery of works and to offer speeches about his Administration.

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While Morales does not leave the Tropic of Cochabamba (center), his main political and union stronghold, since October 2024, where he is surrounded by his followers who protect him against an arrest warrant.

The former governor was declared in “rebellion” for not appearing twice before a court to answer for an accusation of aggravated human trafficking, for allegedly maintaining a relationship with a minor with whom he had a child in 2016, when he was president of Bolivia.

In November, the former president ceased to be head of the MAS after the Judicial and Electoral bodies validated a congress held in May 2024 by the ‘arcista’ wing that elected leader Grover García as the new leader of the government party.

Morales insists that he is qualified to be a candidate despite a constitutional ruling that establishes that re-election in Bolivia is for “a single time” continuously or discontinuously, which would prevent him from participating, since he ruled the country for three consecutive periods (2006-2009, 2010-2014 and 2015-2019).

The division in the ruling party in Bolivia began to be noticed since the political crisis of 2019, when Morales resigned the presidency of the country alleging an alleged “coup d’état” and then took refuge in Argentina.

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Arce and Morales have been distanced since the end of 2021 due to differences in the administration of the Executive and the election of the MAS presidential candidate.