La Paz, August 13 (RHC)-- The Bolivian Senate has passed a law requiring general elections to be held no later than October 18, a step toward ending mobilizations in the country.

"October 18 is the maximum deadline for the Electoral Tribunal (TSE) to hold the general elections.  This time limit cannot be postponed, cannot be changed and is definitive," said Senate Vice President Milton Barón.

Now the rule will go to the Chamber of Deputies, which should ratify it soon, explained Senator Baron.  Both chambers are controlled by the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS), the party of former president Evo Morales, which has opted to approve the law.
 
The social movements and the Bolivian Workers' Central (COB) had demanded a law from Parliament that would set October 11th as the date for the elections.  The de facto regime initially called for general elections on May 3rd, but under the argument of the pandemic they were postponed three times: to the first week of August, to September 6, and finally to October 18th.
 
For more than a week, workers' movements have been protesting and cutting off roads in Bolivia in rejection of the postponement of the elections.  The COB leadership maintains that the delay in the elections is detrimental to the leftist presidential candidate Luis Arce, who is leading the polls over the right-wing candidate Carlos Mesa and the de facto president Jeanine Áñez.
 
Once the law is passed by the lower house, it will go to the executive branch for constitutional enactment, according to presidential minister Yerko Núñez.