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Bolivia's Morales Vows Second-Round Vote if Fraud Found in Official Tally

Reuters

   LA PAZ, BOLIVIA - Bolivian President Evo Morales on Saturday vowed to
   hold a runoff election if an audit of a vote count that gave him an
   outright win turnedup evidence of fraud, as he sought to calm a sixth
   day of protests and international criticism over his disputed
   re-election to a fourth term.
   Morales, already Latin America's longest-serving president, is the lone
   survivor of a group of fiery leftist leaders who took office in the
   previous decade, most of whom have since been replaced by right-leaning
   governments.
   He has overseen a rare period of economic and political stability in
   South America's poorest country. But charges of vote-rigging lodged by
   the opposition and doubts about the legitimacy of the vote raised by
   official observers threaten to dog his 2020-25 term and tarnish his
   reputation as a democrat.
   In a speech at a military event, Morales invited countries in the
   region that have called for him to hold a runoff vote--the United
   States, Brazil, ArgentinaandColombia--to take part in an audit of the
   official tally.
   "Let's do an audit vote by vote," Morales said in the coca-growing
   region of Cochabamba. "I'll join[the audit]. If there's fraud, the next
   day we'll convene a second-round" election, he added in comments
   broadcast on state TV.

   Pressure campaign

   Shortly after Morales spoke, his chief rival in the race,Carlos Mesa, a
   former president, announced his supporters were forming a commission to
   pressure the international community to not recognize the election's
   results.
   Brazil, landlocked Bolivia's biggest trade partner, already said it
   would reject Morales' win until the regional Organization of American
   States (OAS) finishedan audit of the vote count, whichhas not yet
   started.
   The European Union and Washington-based OAS, both of whom sent observer
   missions to Bolivia, have also pushed Morales to convene a second-round
   vote to calm unrest and restore credibility to the election.

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