Bolivian presidential election: two right-wing candidates to face off in the second round

To everyone's surprise, center-right Senator Rodrigo Paz, son of former President Jaime Paz Zamora (1998-1993), came in first with 32.1% of the vote, according to results released by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE). Right-wing former President Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga (2001-2002) followed closely behind with 26.8%, according to the same estimates. Millionaire Samuel Doria Medina, the favorite in all polls until a week ago, however, fell to third place with 19.8% of the vote.

The election took place amid a severe economic crisis marked by chronic shortages of dollars and fuel, while annual inflation hovers around 25%, a level not seen in 17 years. Blamed for the debacle, outgoing President Luis Arce, once supported by former President Evo Morales (2006-2019) but now in conflict with him, has renounced a second term.

Andronico Rodriguez, the Senate president, also from the left, and the candidate of the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS), in power since 2006, Eduardo del Castillo, failed to convince. "I want change. I think the left has done us a lot of harm," said Miriam Escobar, a 60-year-old retiree. "There is no work, no gasoline, no diesel, everything is very expensive," she lamented after voting in La Paz.

Right-wing candidates have promised to break with the statist model established by Evo Morales. Under his presidency, poverty has declined and GDP has tripled, but the decline in gas revenues since 2017 has plunged the country into crisis.

"It's the end of a cycle," declared Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga after voting in La Paz. The engineer, who served as interim president for a year (2001-2002), promises "radical change" if he wins. Agustin Quispe, a 51-year-old miner, however, called Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga a "dinosaur" and affirmed his support for Rodrigo Paz, who focused his campaign on fighting corruption and lowering taxes. "Bolivia needs stability, governability, and an economic model focused on the people rather than the state," Rodrigo Paz declared after voting in Tarija, in the south of the country.

The two winners will face off in a runoff on October 19, inflicting the left's biggest setback since Evo Morales came to power. The 65-year-old former head of state had hoped to run for a fourth presidential term, but the courts, by limiting them to two, ruled him out of the race. The former coca growers' union leader, who faces an arrest warrant in a child trafficking case he disputes, lives secluded in his stronghold in the center of the country. Voting in sandals, Morales denounced the election as "without legitimacy," claiming that the invalid vote, which he encouraged during the campaign, would win, while his supporters formed a cordon around him. No police presence was visible in the vicinity.