Bolivia’s presidential vote heads to runoff between centrist, right-wing candidates
La Paz: Bolivia’s presidential vote headed to an unprecedented runoff after a vote Sunday that ended more than two decades of left-wing dominance in the Andean nation but signalled voters’ trepidation about a major lurch to the right.
A dark horse centrist, Sen. Rodrigo Paz, drew more votes than the right-wing front-runners, although not enough to secure an outright victory, early results showed. Paz, a former mayor who has sought to soften the edges of the opposition’s push for tough austerity to rescue Bolivia from economic collapse, will face off against right-wing former President Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga, who finished second. Bolivia will hold the second round — its first presidential runoff since its 1982 return to democracy — on October 19.
“Always Bolivia, everything for Bolivia,” Paz declared to cheering crowds. “This economic model must change.”
With over 91 per cent of the ballots counted Sunday, Paz received 32.8 per cent of the votes cast. Quiroga secured 26.4 per cent. Candidates needed to surpass 50 per cent, or 40 per cent with a 10-point margin of victory, to avoid a runoff. Addressing fans and flanked by family, Quiroga congratulated Paz on his lead.
“What happened is unprecedented. Bolivia told the world that we want to live in a free nation,” he said. “It’s a historic night.” The results delivered a major blow to Bolivia’s hegemonic Movement Toward Socialism, or MAS, party, which has governed Bolivia almost uninterrupted since its founder, charismatic ex-President Evo Morales, rose to power as part of the “pink tide” of leftist leaders that swept into office across Latin America during the commodities boom of the early 2000s.
The official MAS candidate, Eduardo del Castillo, finished sixth with just 3.2 per cent of the vote. The other leftist candidate considered to be the party’s best hope, 36-year-old Senate president Andronico Rodriguez, captured 8 per cent of the vote.
During his almost 14 years in power, Morales expanded the rights of the country’s Indigenous majority, defended coca growers against US-backed eradication programmes and poured natural gas profits into social programmes and infrastructure.agencies
