Morales likens post-election general strike to ‘coup’

LA PAZ: Bolivia’s opposition launched a general strike on Wednesday over disputed election results suggesting another term for President Evo Morales, who likened the stoppage to a right wing coup.

Speaking to reporters, Morales also said he will take measures to "defend" democracy and is confident he will be declared the winner of Sunday’s election with no need for a runoff.

Morales, a former coca farmer and Latin America’s longest serving leader, is seeking a fourth straight term. The opposition has reported fraud in the counting of votes from the weekend election. "A coup is under way. I want the people of Bolivia to know. Until now, humbly, we have put up with it in order to avoid violence and we have not entered into confrontation," Morales said in his first public remarks since the election, referring to the strike and violent anti-government protests that broke out after the election. Partial results released Sunday night suggested Morales would face off in a second round with his main rival, the centrist Carlos Mesa.

But things changed dramatically Monday when the electoral commission released new results that practically gave the win to Morales, drawing opposition complaints of fraud and triggering rioting in some cities. Mobs torched electoral offices in Sucre and Potosi, while rival supporters clashed in the capital La Paz.

Monitors from the Organisation of American States said they, too, had seen a "drastic and hard to explain change" in the trend of the initial results. As of early on Wednesday, with more than 95 percent of the vote counted, Morales had 46.4 percent compared to 37 percent for Mesa, just shy of the 10 point lead necessary to avoid a runoff, according to the commission.