Bolivia presidential runoff polls lean towards right-wing leadership
(MENAFN) Bolivians cast their ballots in a presidential runoff on Sunday, where the contest pitted two right-leaning figures against each other: centrist Senator Rodrigo Paz Pereira and former conservative President Jorge Quiroga.
Preliminary results indicate that Paz secured 54.6% of the vote, while Quiroga garnered 45.4%. Although the ballots will undergo a detailed manual verification, the final outcome is expected to align closely with the early tally released after 97% of votes were counted, as stated by reports.
This election effectively concludes the two-decade dominance of the leftist Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) party, which experienced a significant defeat in the late August vote. President Luis Arce did not seek re-election, and MAS’s candidate, Interior Minister Eduardo del Castillo, managed just 3.16% of the vote—barely above the minimum required for the party to maintain its legal recognition.
The initial round was largely controlled by right-leaning candidates, with Paz capturing 32.1% of the vote and Quiroga trailing at around 26.8%. Center-right entrepreneur Samuel Doria Medina, who had been leading in most pre-election polls, finished third with 19.9%. Medina promptly acknowledged his loss and threw his support behind Paz for the runoff, according to reports.
During the campaign, both Paz and Quiroga focused on dismantling the MAS party’s influence, differing primarily in their approach. The eventual winner has advocated for gradual reforms, while Quiroga pushed for rapid changes and pledged strict austerity measures to tackle the ongoing crisis.
The MAS party has struggled to regain its footing since the 2019 upheaval, when then-President Evo Morales was ousted in a coup shortly after securing a contentious fourth consecutive term. Morales had previously been narrowly defeated in a referendum that sought to amend the constitutional term limits for the presidency and vice presidency, as stated by reports.
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