 Hello and welcome to People's Dispatch. Today, we're joined by Zoe from People's Dispatch, who's on the ground in Bolivia as part of a Code Pink Electoral Observation delegation. The delegation has been going around various places where voting was happening yesterday. And the news after yesterday's polling, the polls that came out by various private actors show that the MA is a movement towards socialism. Its ticket of Luis Arce and David Chagavanka are expected to win the election in the first round itself, which means they may not need a second round. Now, of course, these are exit polls, but these exit polls, one of the exit polls is also from a very right-wing agency. And there has been a wide acceptance both in the country and outside. Zoe, thank you so much again for joining us. So could you first tell us what's right now, the mood on the ground, what is the latest news regarding the results and as well as the pollster results that have come out? Yeah, thank you so much for having me Prashant. It was a very emotionally charged day. I think throughout the course of the day, people were peaceful, very going about the voting in a very peaceful and democratic way, but there was a certain sense of tension because of really uncertainty of what was going to happen. There was a strong sense that the mass was going to win, but of course, there's always room for some manipulation to be happening. So I think finally after hours from when the polls closed and finally the exit polls were released, it was a huge sigh of relief. I was staying in a hotel in the center and I could hear fireworks going off for hours. People really, really feeling a lot of confidence and feeling proud that their vote was respected, feeling proud that their vote is reflecting kind of the will of the Bolivian people. And as you said, while the final tally has not been finished, and it's as of now only 16.41% of the tally sheets, which is the sheets that are used to have the official results have been processed, the exit polls indicate an overwhelming victory for the mass ticket, over 52%. And so we've seen figures from Alberto Fernandez, the president of Argentina recognizing the victory to even Luis Almagro, the secretary general of the Organization of American States. As we know in the last elections in Bolivia, the OAS was one of the key players in calling out the supposed fraud and calling for a second round. So this is actually one of the biggest milestones, I think. And even though we're still waiting on the final results, it seems like it's an irreversible trend. Also to mention there, Jeanine Agnes, the de facto president of the coup regime, also recognized the victory of Luis Arte, David Choquihonca last night itself. So I think at this point, people are in a celebratory mood, still waiting to see what happens with the final tally. But in general, it seems like the will of the Bolivian people has been respected. This is, of course, due to massive, massive mobilization, massive struggle, over the past year since the coup, the people have suffered massacres. They've suffered political persecution. There are hundreds of activists who are in jail just for being mass sympathizers or being trade union activists. And so this victory is not only the result of one day of voting, but it's the result of an entire year of being in the streets, being in every possible location, whether they're in exile and rallying, calling for the return to democracy. Aval's in Argentina and has been continuing to play a really important role in calling for the democracy to be respected. So I think that also has to be considered in this historic, historic victory. Absolutely. So Zoe, you talked about the final count, which is still in its very early stages. And could you just take us to maybe the process of how this counting takes place and what are the concerns regarding it right now? Yeah, definitely. The final count is essentially taking all of the tally sheets from across the country that come from each of the different polling locations and from those different polling locations, each of the polling booths. So each polling booth will tally up the number of votes that were cast for each party. And we got to see them yesterday to these big sheets and they do a bunch of different checks and say and tally up the number of votes that were cast for the party. And so all of these tally sheets are brought to the central computing location. And then workers from the TSE, which is the Supreme Court essentially do a processing of these tally sheets. And that's what's reflected on the website, which has the final count. As of this point, as I mentioned before, only 16% of the votes have been processed. And so right now, if you go to the website, it's reflecting a Mesa, Carlos Mesa Ciudad, community of Ciudad in the lead. But as I said, only 16% of the votes have been processed. And I think, for example, a lot of the rural areas of the actas from the rural areas have not been brought in. So I think people are still remaining cautious with this because we know anything can happen. But at this point, with the amount of recognitions that have come in from the OAS, from all of these high level officials, it's likely that the final count will reflect the exit polls and that it will in a couple of days, it could be two days, three days, the final results will reflect a victory for the mass. Absolutely, right. And finally, after talking to activists, after talking to people, observers, so are there any areas of concern? Are there issues people are watching out for? Because like you said, it is a mood of celebration, but also one of vigilance. Yeah, I think in general, in La Paz, for example, it's been quite calm. I think some of the areas where people might have some concern about violent backlash from the right wing, we might be talking about Santa Cruz where the base of Camacho is located. And we know there's been very strong mobilizations by paramilitary groups. And so at this point, people are remaining cautious and knowing that that's a possibility because the right wing backlash happens last year and it could happen again. As of now, it seems to be in a moment of calm. But of course, people looking out for that and being ready to denounce that when it happens. Absolutely. Thank you so much, Zoe, for speaking to us. We'll be staying in touch with you as the final tally gets calculated further and the results hopefully come out in a few days. Thank you so much for having me, Prashan.