Bolivian right-wing factions to block president's reelection

Bolivia's right-wing factions on Wednesday agreed to work in concert to prevent the reelection of President Evo Morales and his Movement for Socialism (MAS) party.

With general elections still some two years away, opposition figures, including two former presidents, an ex-vice president and three leaders of conservative parties, pledged to join forces to defeat the left-leaning government in 2019.

At a press conference held in La Paz, the parties signed a pact, which they titled a "joint declaration in defence of democracy and justice."

The declaration accuses Morales of having "broken the limits of independence and coordination between the branches (of government), and transformed the judiciary into an instrument of political persecution."

Several of the signatories said they were the subject of legal proceedings that were politically motivated.

Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president, has been popularly reelected to office since first being elected in 2005, and has said he would like to run again. He lost a recent referendum on a constitutional amendment that would have allowed him to run again by a slight margin.

Bolivia's deputy minister of autonomy, Hugo Siles, accused the right wing of launching an "intentional disinformation (campaign) obviously motivated by political interest."

The declaration was signed by former presidents Jorge Quiroga (2001-2002) and Carlos Mesa (2003-2005), and ex-vice president Victor Hugo Cardenas (1993-1997), as well as the leaders of the National Unity party, businessman Samuel Doria Medina; Social Democratic Movement, Santa Cruz Gov. Ruben Costas; and Sovereignty and Liberty party, La Paz Mayor Luis Revilla. Endit