La Paz, July 13 (RHC)-- Luis Arce, candidate for Bolivia's Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) says the de facto government intends to postpone the elections set for September 6th.  During an interview with teleSUR, he also denounced the acts of corruption that have taken place in the country since the coup d'état against Evo Morales last November.

"The intention of the right wing is to prolong the elections, to take them beyond 2020. Democracy was taken from us in November last year (...) We understand that the Supreme Electoral Tribunal has the same reading to carry out the elections," said Arce.

The presidential candidate for MAS, rejected the position of candidate Quiroga, who in view of his low popularity also joins the campaign to postpone the elections, "Mr. Quiroga who now proposes to postpone the elections, at the time the parties agreed on September 6, he was present at the negotiations. The only ones who did not participate were the Creemos group (of Mr. Camacho), the rest agreed with the TSE president on the date," he added.

"The Bolivian people are pinning their hopes on the elections to solve the crisis of the pandemic by a de facto government that does not pose a solution to the problem and is now deepening the economic crisis in the country.  It is necessary to give clarity and certainty to Bolivians so far this year and beyond," said Arce.

Arce reiterated that in the face of the right wing's imminent electoral defeat, they intend to offer some gifts that have no serious social plan, "they are trying to generate some social policies, but they are putting the country in debt. In reality, there is no serious plan. They are trying to sell a product that doesn't have one to the Bolivian population to try to remedy the government's resounding failure to manage the pandemic," he added.

The MAS candidate recalled that the country achieved its best period of economic growth under the leftist government, "we had the highest growth rate until 2018. The last quarter was catastrophic, we grew just 2.2 percent, a shame compared to previous years, when we grew by 4 percent," he said. 

"What the right wing does is destroy the economy (...) We believe in the conscience of the Bolivian people. The economic crisis is taking a heavy toll on the Bolivian population," said Arce. 

Arce said that in the midst of the electoral campaign, MAS activists have respected the biosecurity protocols for the Covid-19 pandemic. "We recommend that our activists take care of their health when campaigning. We must be imaginative in campaigning, respecting social contact and avoiding contagion," he added.

Luis Arce said that Bolivians are looking for alternatives to be able to inform themselves in the face of the hostile position of the majority of the media, "the population is unhappy with the information.  The population chooses to be informed by the networks," he said. 

"Unfortunately, very few media outlets act courageously in the face of a de facto government that manipulates, misinforms and violates human rights in our country," said the MAS candidate. 

Arce denounced that members of the de facto government pretend to blame the Movement Towards Socialism for the country's ills, "they want to make a smoke screen to distract the Bolivian population", he added.

"We have to remember the cases of corruption in public companies, we have problems with the purchase of tear gas and respirators.  They are approaching 40 cases of corruption," denounced Arce.