LA PAZ (Reuters) - A constitutional court in Bolivia has barred former President Evo Morales from running again for office, ushering in a new phase in the country's long-running political crisis.
Morales, who led Bolivia from 2006 to 2019, had been vying for the candidacy of his MAS party, alongside his former mentee-turned-rival, President Luis Arce.
But, in a decision last week that was reported on Friday, Bolivia's constitutional court ruled that presidents were limited to serving two terms, whether consecutive or non-consecutive.
After serving his first two terms, a court ruling allowed Morales to serve a third term because his first preceded a constitutional rewrite. He ran for a fourth term in the 2019 elections, but fled the country after the results were disputed and unrest ensued. Arce was elected in 2020.
"Without a doubt this ushers in a new era of politics in Bolivia," opposition lawmaker Marcelo Pedrazas told journalists on Friday. "In 2025, we'll have an election without Evo Morales on the ballot."
Morales' lawyer, Orlando Ceballos, called the court's ruling politically motivated.
"What are they trying to do? To get rid of MAS, to disqualify Evo, that's the point," Ceballos said in a radio interview, adding they would take up the matter with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Morales and Arce have been increasingly butting heads in past weeks, with Morales supporters using roadblocks to halt commerce and later raiding military bases.
Morales has called for peaceful talks with the government, but went on a nearly week-long hunger strike in protest of what he considers political persecution by Arce's administration.
On Friday, lawmakers loyal to Morales caused chaos in Congress, shouting and throwing flowers at the vice president ahead of Arce's planned yearly address and forcing him to deliver his speech from the presidential palace.