Bolivia's Evo Morales says he will run for election in 2025

Bolivia's leftist ex-president Evo Morales said Sunday he would seek election again in 2025, in a growing stand-off with his political protégé, incumbent Luis Arce.

Morales stepped down in 2019 after losing the support of the police and military amid strikes and protests in response to his disputed election to a fourth term.

Now 63, he announced on social media that "we have decided to accept the requests of our militants and of so many brothers and sisters... to be a candidate for the presidency of our beloved Bolivia."

The MAS party of Morales and Arce is to hold a congress next week to start the process of organising a primary election to choose candidates for the presidency and vice-presidency.

Morales is the first politician to announce an intended run, with Arce – in office since November 2020 – not having declared his intentions.

In his announcement on X, formerly Twitter, Morales accused Arce's government of seeking to sideline him politically, including by falsely implicating him in corruption.

According to Bolivia's constitution, a president can serve two consecutive terms, though Morales served three.

Arce's Justice Minister Ivan Lima has said Bolivia's Constitutional Court must decide whether Morales is legally allowed to run again for what would be a fourth term, interrupted by Arce's five years in office.

– TIMES/AFP