Supporters of Bolivia’s Ex-Leader Morales Clash with Police in Push to Secure his Candidacy

05/16/2025

Hundreds of supporters of ex-President Evo Morales marched toward Bolivia’s top electoral court on May 16 to push for their leftist leader’s candidacy in presidential elections later this year, a rally that descended into street clashes as police tried to clear out a group of demonstrators. 

The confrontations come in response to a ruling by Bolivia’s Constitutional Court that blocks Morales, the nation’s first Indigenous president who governed from 2006 until his ouster in 2019, from running again in Aug. 17 elections. 

 The court’s unanimous decision last Wednesday upheld an earlier ruling that bans presidents from serving more than two terms. Morales has already served three, and, in 2019, resigned under pressure from the military and went into exile as protests erupted over his bid for an unprecedented fourth term. 

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