Urgent Call to Presidential Candidates | Llamado urgente a los aspirantes a la presidencia

This call is not a desperate plea for opposition unity. On the contrary, it presents presidential hopefuls with a clear and concrete roadmap to achieve a feasible goal: determining which of them has the best chances of defeating the MAS.

This call is directed at two groups. It addresses opposition pre-candidates hoping to win the 2025 elections. It also speaks to citizens dismayed by how nearly all these aspirants strive to divide the opposition vote, potentially gifting the presidency to a MAS candidate.

Among these aspirants are Carlos Mesa, Manfred Reyes Villa, Samuel Doria Medina, Tuto Quiroga, Amparo Ballivián, Rubén Costas, Luis Fernando Camacho, Rodrigo Paz Pereira, Carlos Börht, Vicente Cuellar, Antonio Saravia, Agustín Zambrana, and Williams Bascopé.

Mesa, Ballivián, and Costas have declared in various ways their willingness to agree on a method to select the strongest opposition pre-candidate and to withdraw from the race if they do not come out on top in the agreed-upon system.

The steps are very simple.

The pre-candidates who accept this proposal will form a Possible Unity Platform (PLUNIPO), which will lead this process.

PLUNIPO members will sign an agreement promising to respect the terms and results of this process and to support the winner.

PLUNIPO will appoint a group of impeccable and impartial professionals to oversee the technical details of the process, a group to be called the Technical Commission of Opposition Primaries (COTEPROP).

COTEPROP will commission initial polls to determine the six pre-candidates who will move on to a First Debate. Subsequent polls will indicate the top three positions obtained by the six participants in the First Debate.

The pre-candidates who rank in the top three in the subsequent polls will advance to a Second Debate. After this Second Debate, final polls will determine the finalist of this process.

The polls and debates will be financed through contributions from PLUNIPO members and donations secured from other sources by COTEPROP.

The polling firms will be selected by COTEPROP in consultation with PLUNIPO to ensure that all participating pre-candidates and their parties or alliances agree that these firms will not favor any of them.

The First Poll will be based on a representative sample of registered voters on the electoral roll, whether from the opposition or the MAS. Pollsters will ask them whom they would like to have as a candidate.

Some will choose between Evo Morales and Luis Arce. Others will choose one of the opposition aspirants. This poll will determine the six pre-candidates who will move on to the First Debate.

The Second Poll and the Final Poll will be based on samples of respondents who answer a list of questions proving that they listened to the respective debate.

Once it is verified that they listened, pollsters will ask them the following question: “based on your evaluation of this Debate, which of these participants would you like to have as a candidate?” Their answers will determine who continues in the contest as well as the winner of this process.

COTEPROP will determine the format, topics, moderators, and dates of the debates. Additionally, it will ensure that they are sponsored by the National Association of Journalists, the Confederation of Private Entrepreneurs, the Episcopal Conference, the Committee for the Defense of Democracy, professional associations, and other interested groups.

COTEPROP will ensure that the video recordings of each Debate are available on social networks, that each Debate is broadcast live by interested radios and televisions, and that they are covered by independent print and digital media, following an intense campaign publicizing their importance, date, content, and participants.

The finalist of this process will participate under their own party or alliance in the primaries required by law and will comply with the legal requirements to run in the 2025 elections. If they do not have a party or alliance, they will register under the acronym provided by another party or alliance.

Participants eliminated by the polls will join the finalist’s campaign, becoming part of the committees that will determine the lists of candidates for the Assembly, draft the government proposal, and design the electoral strategy.

PLUNIPO will invite the government candidate and, if applicable, the candidate emerging from another faction of the MAS to participate in a new series of debates with the person appointed by this process.

The background and justifications for this proposal can be found in the articles “Three obstacles complicate the electoral defeat of Populist Power” and “The arduous journey from a throng of aspirants to the winning candidate” available on the internet through Google.

Pre-candidate Amparo Ballivián and Deputy of Citizen Community Carlos Alarcón presented similar proposals with the same objective. They can be seen in the video available at the link facebook.com/dialogosalcafe/videos/3386634311634804.

The main advantage of any of these proposals is that they generate a candidate supported by a majority of the opposition, chosen to minimize the division of the opposition vote and maximize the chances of winning in 2025.

Pre-candidates reluctant to accept this agreement or any variant thereof that end up dividing the opposition vote will go down in history stained with shame.

If the MAS is not defeated in 2025, sooner or later thousands of Bolivians will beg for alms in exile just as poor Venezuelans do by painting speed bumps on our streets.

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