Xi congratulates Arce on election as Bolivian leader

President Xi Jinping congratulated Luis Arce Catacora on Monday on his election as Bolivia's president, saying he would like to work with Arce to promote bilateral ties.

In a congratulatory message to the South American country's president-elect, Xi called China and Bolivia good friends and partners. He said bilateral relations have gained good momentum for development in recent years with fruitful outcomes achieved in the countries' pragmatic cooperation.

Since they established a strategic partnership in 2018, the two countries have witnessed even closer exchanges and cooperation in various fields, which have delivered substantial benefits to them, Xi said.

Noting he considers China-Bolivia relations greatly important, Xi said he stands ready to work with Arce to enrich the content of their strategic partnership to benefit the two countries and the two peoples.

He expressed the wish that under the leadership of Arce, the Bolivian government and people will make new greater achievements in building a stronger country.

Bolivia's Supreme Electoral Tribunal, or TSE, announced on Friday that Arce, the candidate for Bolivia's Movement Towards Socialism party, or MAS, won the presidential elections with 55.1 percent of the votes.

The MAS also obtained absolute majorities in the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, although it did not achieve the two-thirds majority required to carry out constitutional reforms.

The TSE spent five days counting votes throughout the country's nine departments, with the presence of representatives from political organizations, domestic and international observation missions, as well as the media.

This is the first time since 1989 that the country has published the official results of a presidential election in such a short period of time.

Arce scored a 26-point victory over his biggest competitor, Carlos Mesa from the Citizen Community party, to be declared the winner of the Bolivian elections, one year after elections were annulled when then-president Evo Morales got 47 percent of the votes.

Xinhua contributed to this story.