Yesterday’s presidential election spelled an end to two decades of rule by the Movement to Socialism (Spanish abbr: MAS) party, founded by the country’s first Indigenous leader Evo Morales.
Centrist Senator Rodrigo Paz of the Christian Democratic Party (Spanish abbr: PDC) and conservative former president Jorge Quiroga of the Freedom (Libre) Party will face each other in a runoff on 19 October after neither secured a majority.
Preliminary tallies gave Paz 32 percent of the vote and Quiroga 26 percent.
MAS, deeply divided between Morales loyalists and allies of feckless outgoing President Luis Arce, fell to an unprecedented sixth place.
The outcome was a surprise for Paz, who had been polling low, trailing both Quiroga and businessman Samuel Doria Medina of the center-right Unity Social Democratic Party (Spanish abbr: PSD).
Doria Medina, long considered the frontrunner, finished third.
Morales, who was president from 2006 to 2019, had urged supporters to cast null ballots in protest. He has not responded to the outcome.
In his stronghold, the central municipality of Cochabamba, polling was marred by a small explosion at a voting site and stone-throwing against a rival left-wing candidate.
He has been holed up there to avoid arrest on charges of fathering a child with a 15-year-old girl in 2016.
Further unrest could erupt in the coming days as Morales loyalists react to the results.
Potentially adding fuel to the fire, Quiroga has pledged to enforce the arrest warrant if elected.
Paz has avoided such promises.
Voters focused on Bolivia’s economic crisis.
Inflation has surged while shortages of fuel and dollars have worsened.
Quiroga has pledged to center his runoff campaign on the economic emergency.
Paz has presented himself as a moderate reformer, gathering many votes from the disillusioned left.
Both candidates were educated in the United States and support market-friendly policies aligned with renewed engagement with the US.
Personnel should monitor political developments and give wide berth to demonstrations.
