Morales seeks truce as OAS audits vote

Opposition supporters have set up road blocks while supporters of the presidential rivals have fought battles with their bare hands and makeshift weapons.

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AFP) — President Evo Morales on Thursday called for a “truce” while an international body conducts an audit of Bolivia’s disputed election results, after clashes between rival groups left two dead and nearly 140 injured.

A technical mission from the Organization of American States (OAS) has begun an audit of the results that delivered Morales a controversial fourth term, and sparked deadly riots.

Opposition supporters have set up road blocks while supporters of the presidential rivals have fought battles with their bare hands and makeshift weapons.

Many people have gone on strike while demonstrators have also clashed with security forces.

“To the social movements, I ask: lift the blockade. And to the brothers who are on strike in the cities; end the strike, bring peace to the country and wait for the audit results,” said Morales in a press statement.

Morales was reelected after narrowly claiming the 10-point gap needed to win the 20 October election outright, but only after a sudden and unexplained shift in the vote count in his favor.

The opposition, led by Carlos Mesa, quickly denounced the results as “fraud.”

The 30-strong OAS mission came to Bolivia to conduct the audit, which Bolivia’s foreign minister Diego Pary said would “last two weeks.”

Rivals groups clashed in the streets on Thursday as the audit began.

The government says two people were killed by gunshots and almost 140 people have been injured in 10 days of violent unrest.

Riots broke out almost as soon as the election ended.

Mesa said earlier this week that the Morales administration “is entirely responsible for the violent actions.”

However, Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera blamed Mesa for the clashes, calling him “angry, a liar and deceitful.”

Mesa has called on his supporters to maintain their strikes and street protests.

“The truth is that human lives have been lost. And that can never be made right,” Defense Minister Javier Zabaleta told local media on Wednesday.

The OAS team is to scrutinize the election result following an agreement between the government and the US-based grouping of 35 nations.

The government invited Mesa to take part in the audit, but the 66-year-old politician refused.