LA PAZ, Bolivia — Bolivia's electoral tribunal on Friday included leftist Senate leader Andrónico Rodríguez on the list of presidential candidates approved for the ballot but excluded the powerful former socialist leader Evo Morales — the other major thorn in the president’s side.

As tensions escalate in the run-up to Bolivia's Aug. 17 elections, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal reinstated Rodríguez, a 36-year-old political upstart with close ties to Morales and roots in the ex-president's rural coca-growing stronghold, weeks after suspending his candidacy on technical grounds in a decision that shocked many Bolivians.

“We are the candidate of the people,” Rodríguez said in a speech welcoming the revival of his campaign. “Our primary concern has been to wage the legal battle, and in the en

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