[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 4 (Wednesday, January 8, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S77-S79]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
EXPRESSING SERIOUS CONCERN ABOUT WIDESPREAD IRREGULARITIES IN BOLIVIA'S
OCTOBER 20, 2019, GENERAL ELECTIONS AND SUPPORTING THE CONVENING OF NEW
ELECTIONS IN BOLIVIA AT THE EARLIEST POSSIBLE DATE
Mrs. FISCHER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate
proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 341, S. Res. 447.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 447) expressing serious concern about
widespread irregularities in Bolivia's October 20, 2019,
general elections and supporting the convening of new
elections in Bolivia at the earliest possible date.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the
resolution, which had been reported from the Committee on Foreign
Relations, with an
[[Page S78]]
amendment to strike all after the resolving clause and insert the part
printed in italic, and with an amendment to the preamble to strike the
preamble and insert the part printed in italic, as follows:
S. Res. 447
Whereas Evo Morales was elected as the first indigenous
president of Bolivia in 2005;
Whereas, in 2009, Bolivians approved by a vote of more than
60 percent in a nationwide referendum a new constitution that
established a limit of two 5-year presidential terms and
declared the country a plurinational state in order to better
reflect Bolivia's dozens of ethnic groups;
Whereas, in 2009 and 2014, President Morales won re-
election to a second and third term in office with more than
60 percent of the vote;
Whereas, in 2016, 51.3 percent of Bolivian voters rejected
a national referendum on the proposal by the Administration
of President Morales to lift presidential term limits;
Whereas, in 2017, despite the results of the 2016 national
referendum, President Morales' political allies in the
Bolivian Constitutional Tribunal removed presidential term
limits;
Whereas, on October 20, 2019, amid existing concerns over
the politicization of Bolivia's electoral commission,
Bolivian voters went to the polls for general elections to
choose a new president, members of the Senate, and members of
the Chamber of Deputies;
Whereas, at the invitation of Morales Administration, the
Organization of American States (OAS) General Secretariat
sent an Electoral Observation Mission to Bolivia that was
comprised of 92 experts and observers from 24 different
nationalities deployed in the country's nine departments and
in three countries in which Bolivian expatriates could cast
their votes abroad;
Whereas, on October 20, 2019, Bolivian electoral
authorities stopped reporting the preliminary vote count for
a period of 20 hours, subsequently announced preliminary
results that negated the need for a second-round election,
and Evo Morales proclaimed himself the winner of the
presidential election;
Whereas, on October 21, 2019, the OAS Electoral Observation
Mission in Bolivia expressed ``deep concern and surprise at
the drastic and hard-to-explain change in the trend of the
preliminary results revealed after the closing of the
polls'';
Whereas, in the aftermath of the October 20, 2019, general
elections, violent protests occurred throughout Bolivia in
response to electoral irregularities and the findings of the
OAS Electoral Observation Mission;
Whereas, on October 30, 2019, the Morales Administration
and the OAS General Secretariat signed an agreement to have
the OAS conduct an audit of the integrity of the October 20,
2019, general elections;
Whereas, on November 10, 2019, an OAS technical mission
issued a report on its audit of the integrity of the October
20, 2019, general elections, which included findings that--
(1) the preliminary and final election results were
transmitted via a flawed computer transmission system that
was accessed by unauthorized outside computer servers;
(2) there was a deficient chain of custody for and
significant irregularities in the electoral tally sheets and
other electoral records; and
(3) the audit team could not validate the results of the
election and therefore recommended a new electoral process;
Whereas, on November 10, 2019, President Morales
acknowledged the results of the OAS technical mission,
announced that he would call new elections, and stated that,
``new national elections will allow the Bolivian people to
democratically choose new authorities with their vote'';
Whereas, in the face of widespread public protests and a
deteriorating security environment, President Morales
departed Bolivia on November 12, 2019, and was granted asylum
by the Government of Mexico;
Whereas, on November 12, 2019, the Bolivian Constitutional
Tribunal recognized an interim president of Bolivia;
Whereas the transitional government in Bolivia signed a law
on November 24, 2019, stating that new elections must be held
within 120 days after the election of a new Electoral
Tribunal by the National Assembly;
Whereas the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
(IACHR) stated that protests occurring in Bolivia since the
October 20, 2019, general election have left 23 people dead
and more than 700 people injured; and
Whereas the IACHR has urged the Bolivian state ``to adopt
all measures necessary to prevent impunity, to protect the
right to peaceful assembly, and to take urgent action to
preserve Bolivians' lives and integrity, as well as ensuring
that journalists and autonomous institutions to protect and
defend human rights can do their job'': Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) expresses concern about the numerous irregularities
that occurred during the October 20, 2019, general elections
in Bolivia;
(2) commends the efforts of the OAS Electoral Observation
Mission in Bolivia and supports the findings of the OAS
electoral audit mission, which documented numerous
irregularities during the October 2019 general elections in
Bolivia;
(3) deplores the acts of violence that have occurred in
Bolivia in the aftermath of the October 20, 2019, general
elections and urges all Bolivians to repudiate violence and
to peacefully exercise their rights of freedom of expression
and assembly;
(4) urges Bolivia's transitional government to work
expeditiously to establish the conditions for an inclusive,
credible, transparent, and democratic elections as soon as
possible in accordance with their laws and constitution;
(5) encourages the Bolivian state to protect the human
rights of all persons, including indigenous groups,
regardless of political affiliation, ethnicity, religion, or
sex;
(6) encourages the Department of State and the U.S. Mission
to the Organization of American States to provide all
appropriate support to facilitate the convening of free,
fair, and transparent democratic elections in Bolivia as soon
as possible in accordance with their laws and constitution;
(7) encourages the Organization of American States to take
all necessary steps, in accordance with the principles of the
Inter-American Democratic Charter, to ensure respect for the
will of Bolivian voters and the integrity of the new
democratic elections in Bolivia as soon as possible in
accordance with their laws and constitution; and
(8) supports the call by the Permanent Council of the
Organization of American States for Bolivian authorities to
ensure full respect and protection of human rights and
accountability for any violation thereof.
Mrs. FISCHER. I ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported
substitute amendment to the resolution be agreed to; that the
resolution, as amended, be agreed to; that the committee-reported
amendment to the preamble be agreed to; that the preamble, as amended,
be agreed to; and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and
laid upon the table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The committee-reported amendment in the nature of a substitute was
agreed to.
The resolution (S. Res. 447), as amended, was agreed to.
The committee-reported amendment to the preamble was agreed to.
The preamble, as amended, was agreed to.
The resolution, as amended, with its preamble, as amended, reads as
follows:
S. Res. 447
Whereas Evo Morales was elected as the first indigenous
president of Bolivia in 2005;
Whereas, in 2009, Bolivians approved by a vote of more than
60 percent in a nationwide referendum a new constitution that
established a limit of two 5-year presidential terms and
declared the country a plurinational state in order to better
reflect Bolivia's dozens of ethnic groups;
Whereas, in 2009 and 2014, President Morales won re-
election to a second and third term in office with more than
60 percent of the vote;
Whereas, in 2016, 51.3 percent of Bolivian voters rejected
a national referendum on the proposal by the Administration
of President Morales to lift presidential term limits;
Whereas, in 2017, despite the results of the 2016 national
referendum, President Morales' political allies in the
Bolivian Constitutional Tribunal removed presidential term
limits;
Whereas, on October 20, 2019, amid existing concerns over
the politicization of Bolivia's electoral commission,
Bolivian voters went to the polls for general elections to
choose a new president, members of the Senate, and members of
the Chamber of Deputies;
Whereas, at the invitation of Morales Administration, the
Organization of American States (OAS) General Secretariat
sent an Electoral Observation Mission to Bolivia that was
comprised of 92 experts and observers from 24 different
nationalities deployed in the country's nine departments and
in three countries in which Bolivian expatriates could cast
their votes abroad;
Whereas, on October 20, 2019, Bolivian electoral
authorities stopped reporting the preliminary vote count for
a period of 20 hours, subsequently announced preliminary
results that negated the need for a second-round election,
and Evo Morales proclaimed himself the winner of the
presidential election;
Whereas, on October 21, 2019, the OAS Electoral Observation
Mission in Bolivia expressed ``deep concern and surprise at
the drastic and hard-to-explain change in the trend of the
preliminary results revealed after the closing of the
polls'';
Whereas, in the aftermath of the October 20, 2019, general
elections, violent protests occurred throughout Bolivia in
response to electoral irregularities and the findings of the
OAS Electoral Observation Mission;
Whereas, on October 30, 2019, the Morales Administration
and the OAS General Secretariat signed an agreement to have
the OAS conduct an audit of the integrity of the October 20,
2019, general elections;
Whereas, on November 10, 2019, an OAS technical mission
issued a report on its audit of the integrity of the October
20, 2019, general elections, which included findings that--
(1) the preliminary and final election results were
transmitted via a flawed computer transmission system that
was accessed by unauthorized outside computer servers;
(2) there was a deficient chain of custody for and
significant irregularities in the electoral tally sheets and
other electoral records; and
(3) the audit team could not validate the results of the
election and therefore recommended a new electoral process;
Whereas, on November 10, 2019, President Morales
acknowledged the results of the OAS technical mission,
announced that he would
[[Page S79]]
call new elections, and stated that, ``new national elections
will allow the Bolivian people to democratically choose new
authorities with their vote'';
Whereas, in the face of widespread public protests and a
deteriorating security environment, President Morales
departed Bolivia on November 12, 2019, and was granted asylum
by the Government of Mexico;
Whereas, on November 12, 2019, the Bolivian Constitutional
Tribunal recognized an interim president of Bolivia;
Whereas the transitional government in Bolivia signed a law
on November 24, 2019, stating that new elections must be held
within 120 days after the election of a new Electoral
Tribunal by the National Assembly;
Whereas the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
(IACHR) stated that protests occurring in Bolivia since the
October 20, 2019, general election have left 23 people dead
and more than 700 people injured; and
Whereas the IACHR has urged the Bolivian state ``to adopt
all measures necessary to prevent impunity, to protect the
right to peaceful assembly, and to take urgent action to
preserve Bolivians' lives and integrity, as well as ensuring
that journalists and autonomous institutions to protect and
defend human rights can do their job'': Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) expresses concern about the numerous irregularities
that occurred during the October 20, 2019, general elections
in Bolivia;
(2) commends the efforts of the OAS Electoral Observation
Mission in Bolivia and supports the findings of the OAS
electoral audit mission, which documented numerous
irregularities during the October 2019 general elections in
Bolivia;
(3) deplores the acts of violence that have occurred in
Bolivia in the aftermath of the October 20, 2019, general
elections and urges all Bolivians to repudiate violence and
to peacefully exercise their rights of freedom of expression
and assembly;
(4) urges Bolivia's transitional government to work
expeditiously to establish the conditions for an inclusive,
credible, transparent, and democratic elections as soon as
possible in accordance with their laws and constitution;
(5) encourages the Bolivian state to protect the human
rights of all persons, including indigenous groups,
regardless of political affiliation, ethnicity, religion, or
sex;
(6) encourages the Department of State and the U.S. Mission
to the Organization of American States to provide all
appropriate support to facilitate the convening of free,
fair, and transparent democratic elections in Bolivia as soon
as possible in accordance with their laws and constitution;
(7) encourages the Organization of American States to take
all necessary steps, in accordance with the principles of the
Inter-American Democratic Charter, to ensure respect for the
will of Bolivian voters and the integrity of the new
democratic elections in Bolivia as soon as possible in
accordance with their laws and constitution; and
(8) supports the call by the Permanent Council of the
Organization of American States for Bolivian authorities to
ensure full respect and protection of human rights and
accountability for any violation thereof.
____________________