From exile, Evo Morales appoints former economy minister to the presidency

Former Bolivian President Evo Morales, a refugee in Argentina, announced on Sunday 19 his former Economy Minister Luis Arce as leader of the ticket that will run for the presidency of the country in May. The vice presidential candidate will be former Chancellor David Choquehuanca. The loyal duo to Morales will compete for the Movement to Socialism (MAS).

Arce is "a combination between the city and the countryside to continue with the process of change," Morales told reporters in Argentina. "Our peasant movement is not exclusionary and does not marginalize," he insisted.

The former president said the former minister "guarantees" the economy. Under its management, Bolivia grew at a rate of 4.9% per year, and extreme poverty decreased from 38.2% in 2005 to 17.1% in 2018, according to official figures. "The right is very afraid of economic growth," he said.

Choquehuanca served as chancellor from 2006 to 2017, when he moved the Hague International Court of Justice to claim a land exit to the Pacific Ocean. The court ruled against Bolivian interests in 2018.

Polls prior to the announcement attributed morales' party to 20.7% of voting intentions, above the others. In second place appears the former president of Carlos Mesa, center, with 13.8%.

Morales resigned from the presidency in November 2019 after a troubled election poll that pointed to his victory. Claiming that he suffered a coup d'état, Morales took refuge in Mexico and then in Argentina, shortly after the inauguration of the country's new president, Peronist Alberto Fernández. The former president hopes to coordinate efforts to re-elect his party "and regain democracy" from his country.