Bolivians go to polls for elections, candidates urge patience, prudence

LA PAZ - Bolivians went to the polls on Sunday to elect a new president and other officials as leading candidates called for patience and prudence in the lead-up to the results.

The counting of overseas votes started at 5 p.m. local time (2100 GMT), while ballots cast nationally were to be tabulated beginning at 6 p.m. local time (2200 GMT), according to Salvador Romero, president of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE).

Voting proceeded largely smoothly, except for a few "isolated" incidents. "The elections are taking place peacefully, though minor isolated incidents that have no bearing on the development of the polls are customary," he said earlier in the day.

Romero also addressed the reason the court decided to cancel a rapid count of the ballots.

"We preferred to suspend the Preliminary Results Dissemination (Direpre) system of rapid initial counting and have a vote by vote count to guarantee certainty," he said.

The presidential candidate of Bolivia's Citizen Community (CC) party, Carlos Mesa, urged voters to go to the polls, await the results patiently and act prudently once the results are out.

"We are calling on the population to be patient and prudent with the results... We will act with great prudence knowing that any statement could generate unnecessary disputes when pronouncements are made in a hurry," Mesa told reporters as he cast his vote in La Paz.

"I want to call on Bolivians to go to the polls because it is an extraordinary day for the history of the country. My commitment to democracy is inalienable and that is demonstrated by voting," he said.

Asked about the suspension of the rapid count, Mesa said he lamented the decision by the TSE, but presumed the move aimed to guarantee the security of the vote and the official outcome.

"As we know that the vote count will take the next few days, we will announce in due time where we will receive the final results and when an official statement will be made," Mesa added.

The presidential candidate for the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS), Luis Arce Catacora, also urged voters to cast their votes in peace.

"We call on Bolivians to avoid violence ... Let's hope that today and the following days pass in a peaceful manner," Arce said.

He questioned the decision to suspend the Direpre system, saying "the electoral tribunal had a lot of time to guarantee the rapid count," so "we are surprised that they suspended it hours before the elections. Hopefully this does not generate problems and the results are guaranteed. We are going to be cautious. We have our own counting system."

The elections come after last year's October elections, which saw Evo Morales reelected for another term, sparked protests. Morales was forced to resign in November after security forces, including the army and police force, sided with protesters. An interim government took charge and organized new elections.

Some 7,332,925 Bolivians over 18 years old, out of a total of more than 11 million inhabitants, were eligible to vote for a total of 352 officials, including a new president, vice president, senators and deputies for the 2020-2025 term.