Former Bolivian president Evo Morales, who has been barred from contesting Sunday's general election, has warned that his supporters will take to the streets if the right returns to power after 20 years.
Two right-wing candidates are leading the race for president ahead of the first round of the election.
Samuel Doria Medina, a centre-right business tycoon, and right-wing ex-president Jorge 'Tuto' Quiroga, have both vowed to dismantle Morales's socialist legacy and liberalise the economy in order to extricate Bolivia from its worst economic crisis in a generation.
They have also vowed to arrest the highly polarising Morales, who attempted to run for a fourth term despite being wanted by police in connection with his alleged sexual relationship with a teenage girl while in office.
In an interview with AFP late Monday from his central stronghold of Chapare, where he has been holed up since October to evade arrest, he vowed stiff resistance to any liberal reforms.
"Together with the people we will take the fight to the streets," said the 65-year-old once feted as a hero of the global left.
Morales assured that he would not flee Bolivia to avoid arrest, rejecting speculation that he could seek asylum in longtime ally Cuba.
"I will not abandon the Bolivian people," he insisted.
Morales saw his political career come crashing down in 2019 following elections marred by allegations of fraud in which he attempted to extend his 13-year grip on power.
After deadly street protests Bolivia's first Indigenous president resigned and fled to Mexico, but returned home a year later.
Since being barred from standing for president again, due to a constitutional two-term limit, he has been on a campaign to delegitimise the election.
He has branded the main leftist candidate a "traitor" and called on his largely Indigenous and rural supporters to spoil their votes.
Polls show around 14 percent of voters poised to heed his advice.
– TIMES/AFP
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