La Paz - Opposition presidential candidate Carlos Mesa, who lost to Evo Morales in the recent elections in Bolivia, evaded calls to condemn the ultimatum issued by the Chairman of the right-wing Citizens Committee of Santa Cruz, Fernando Camacho, calling on Morales to stand down or face the consequences, and avoided referring to the ongoing electoral audit.

'We propose that the democratic and peaceful way to achieve Evo Morales's removal from office is the popular vote,' Mesa said in a statement to reporters after meeting with his supporters at a hotel in La Paz's southern region.

Accompanied by his vice presidential candidate Gustavo Pedraza, as well as senators and lawmakers elected on October 20, Mesa resorted to this ambiguous style and avoided referring to the deadline set by Camacho for Morales to resign, this Monday 19:00 local time.

The candidate for the Citizen Community (CC) alliance also refused to refer to the international audit of the election results, convened by the government with the participation of some 30 experts from the Organization of American States and guests from other countries.

Thus Mesa maintained his position of not accepting his defeat at the polls, after stating his right to dispute a runoff against the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) candidate on October 20, without waiting for the official vote count.

Camacho and civic leaders from six other regions issued the Bolivian president with a 48-hour ultimatum on Saturday to leave office by Monday evening.

Parallelly, a video titled, 'Message from the Bolivian People to the Armed Forces' began to spread on social media on Sunday, in which supporters of Morales' overthrowal urge military commanders to take action.