Bolivian court says Morales can seek third term

Bolivia's Constitutional Court ruled Monday that President Evo Morales can seek a third term in the December 2014 elections.

Chief Judge Ruddy Flores told a press conference that the court's decision came in response to a question from Congress.

The verdict supports the position of Morales and Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera that their current term, which began in 2010, should be considered their first under the new constitution that took effect in 2009.

"The state has been refounded as a plurinational state, and this refounding has emerged from a constituting power that has generated a new political constitution of the state that contemplates a new order in the application of the constitution," Flores told reporters.

The 2009 constitution limits the president to two consecutive terms, but Morales has always claimed that his 2006-10 administration should not count toward that limit since it took place before the refounding of his country and did not complete the legal five-year period.

The leftist president has yet to declare himself a candidate in the 2014 election.

If he were to seek and win a third term, Morales would govern Bolivia until 2020, becoming the Andean nation's longest-serving head of state.