Bolivia: People vote for local, regional polls amid COVID-19

Bolivians are balloted in municipal and regional polls on Sunday between a rising COVID-19 pandemic that has stretched the country's health care system.

"After the restoration of democracy in 2020, it is up to us today to elect our national legislators," President Luis Arce tweeted shortly after voting started at 08:00 local time (12:00 GMT).

O to the polls across the country for the mandatory vote to elect nine governors and 336 mayors, as well as their respective local assembly members and municipal councilors.

According to data from Johns Hopkins University, Bolivia reported more than 253,000 cases of COVID-19 and more than 11,800 coronavirus deaths, while health workers went on strike last month to demand more stringent public health measures.

The president of the country's discretionary power, Salvador Romero, welcomed Bolivia's attempt to hold two general elections amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The election comes just months after Arce of former Bolivian President Evo Morales' MAS party won Bolivia's presidential election in October last year.

He won 55 percent of the vote, bypassing a possible run-off, while MAS also won a majority in both houses of Congress.

"It is now our great challenge to restore our country in peace, to regain joy, stability, and desire for a better tomorrow for all Bolivians," Arce stated on social media after the events were declared.

"We will not let go of the trust that people place in us."

As per to recent polls, MAS competitors are meeting difficulties in municipal competitions in parts of La Paz, El Alto, Cochabamba, and Santa Cruz.

The same polls predicted that the political opposition would have preferred to win the governorship in the Santa Cruz region, would be a close race for the governorship in La Paz, and would fall short in Cochabamba.

Bolivia have recorded 2,51,000 coronavirus cases and more than eleven thousand virus related deaths since the pandemic started out in the country.