(Removes incorrect sentence in paragraph 2 saying current President Arce had supported Rodriguez)
LA PAZ (Reuters) -Bolivian Senate leader Andronico Rodriguez is eligible to run in the nation’s presidential elections later this year, a constitutional court confirmed on Thursday, while former President Evo Morales remains out of the running.
Rodriguez, a leftist senator with roots in Bolivia’s fractured ruling Movement toward Socialism party, initially faced difficulties registering his own party for the race. Morales, meanwhile, is constitutionally barred from running, though he has called for his supporters to take to the streets to demand his eligibility.
Rodriguez’s “Third System” party can participate in August’s elections, the court ruled on Thursday. A recent Ipsos CIESMORI poll showed him as the leading contender for the left, after opposition candidates Samuel Doria, a businessman and economist, and conservative ex-President Jorge Quiroga.
Morales, who has lost much of his political clout as he remains locked away in a compound guarded by his supporters in rural Bolivia to evade a warrant out for his arrest, on Thursday insisted that he will return to once again lead the country.
Courts have repeatedly ruled that Morales, who has already served three terms as president, is ineligible to run for another term.
“We again ask political actors to not try and judicialize the electoral process,” senior judge Rene Yvan Espada said in a press conference.
“We want to invite Bolivian citizens… to follow through on their responsibility to carry out these elections with the upmost normality, harmony and peace possible,” he added.
Morales has taken advantage of the waning popularity of Arce, once Morales’ mentee, due to rising living costs, political infighting and long lines for petrol supplies, all of which have fueled recent protests and street blockades.
(Reporting by Monica Machicao and Sergio Limachi; Writing by Kylie Madry; Editing by Natalia Siniawski)
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