Roundup: Bolivian president views referendum defeat as "losing a battle, not war"

"We have lost a battle, not war" was the phrase used Wednesday by Bolivian President Evo Morales to sum up his feeling about the defeat inflicted upon him during Sunday's constitutional referendum.

Speaking at a press conference in the Quemado Palace, the seat of government in La Paz, Morales accepted the result, meaning he would not seek re-election in 2019, and guaranteed the continuity of the changes brought by his Patriotic Agenda.

"Except for this referendum, we have won every electoral process from the right. We have now lost a battle, not war. We saw support of close to 50 percent, which is the hard vote for those supporting...our democratic and cultural revolution," he emphasized.

Morales spoke for over an hour with journalists about the potential cause of and errors made by his Movement for Socialism (MAS), while discussing its future.

Around midnight late Tuesday, the Supreme Court announced that, with 99.41 percent of the votes counted, the "No" campaign had won with 51.33 percent, as opposed to 48.67 percent for the "Yes" campaign.

This means that Bolivia's longest-serving president will leave office on Jan. 22, 2020, and will not be able to stand for re-election in 2019.

CONTINUITY OF LEADERSHIP

According to Morales, the results show that this government, the MAS and their social goals share the support of half of Bolivia, which no other president has done for over a decade.

"At a certain point, I thought the support for MAS would be 35-40 percent. Now, we see it has reached 50 percent for our Pacific, democratic and cultural revolution. This means I will keep working with more strength," he vowed.

Morales added that he had "never sought to take on this role (president)" but that it had been a result of unions asking him to take on this challenge.

Additionally, he said it had not been his goal to change the constitution to seek re-election but that social movements linked to the government had pushed for it.

The MAS then pushed the proposal forward in Parliament, which approved a referendum on the matter.

"It may have been a mistake to accept (a modification to the constitution)," he noted.

Faced with pressure from journalists about who he might pick to represent MAS in the 2019 presidential elections, Morales repeated several times that it was not time to address this subject and that the choice would be made in due course.

Despite the defeat, he stated that he would press on with his Patriotic Agenda development plan, which looks forward to 2025. Morales added that he would accelerate the public investment of 45 billion U.S. dollars by 2020.

"We will continue with our plans, the Patriotic Agenda will be fulfilled, especially with help from a united and organized people. The fight does not end here," said a defiant leader.

This agenda has set a number of key goals, including eradicating extreme poverty, ensuring access to basic services for all, and consolidating the industrialization of natural resources. Endit