Bolivia will hold the presidential runoff between centrist and right winger | Elections news

The first results showed that centrist Rodrigo Paz took the lead, with 32.8% of the vote, in a surprise result.

Bolivia is heading for a presidential runoff between a centrist and a right-wing candidate, confirming the end of two decades of government by the movement of socialism (Mas), according to the electoral council of the South American country.

With more than 91% of the voting bulletins counted on Sunday evening, the preliminary results showed that the centrist Rodrigo Paz of the Christian Democratic Party (PDC) in mind, with 32.8% of the votes.

The former interim president, Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga, of the Alianza Libre coalition, was in second place, with 26.4% of the votes, which means that he will face Paz, the son of the former leftist president Jaime Paz, during a running election on October 19.

The candidates had to exceed 50%, or 40% with a margin of victory of 10 points, to avoid a runoff.

The editor in Latin America of Al Jazeera, Lucia Newman, postponing Santa Cruz de la Sierra to Bolivia, said that the first results confirmed that Mas, which has ruled the country since 2005, is “outside the photo”.

But the “surprise,” said Newman, is “that the favorite is none other than someone who was based between the fourth and fifth place so far”.

Paz is “more at the center” than his father, added Newman.

Eight presidential candidates were in the running in the presidential election on Sunday – from the far right to the political left.

Pre-electoral polls had shown Samuel Doria Medina, a wealthy businessman and former planning minister, as one of the two favorites alongside Quiroga, who was acting president and vice-president under former military chief Hugo Banzer.

Former leftist president, Evo Morales, was prevented from running, and the outgoing socialist president Luis Arce, who had fallen with Morales, opted for the race.

The division within their coalition on the left, as well as the country Deep economic crisis, meant that little mas was waiting for the return to power.

The official results are due within seven days. Voters also elect the 26 senators and 130 deputies, and officials will assume the office on November 8.

Spir

The Andean country is struggling to struggle in its worst economic crisis in a generation, marked by an annual inflation of almost 25% and critical shortages of US dollars and fuel.

The Bolivians went down several times to the streets to protest against the prices of the rocket and the expectations of fuel duration, bread and other bases in the performance of the elections on Sunday.

Bolivia has experienced more than a decade of strong growth and indigenous uprising under morals, which nationalized the gas sector and plowed the product of social programs which halved extreme poverty during its passage between 2006 and 2019.

But a lack of new legal projects under morals, which was frank on environmental issues and climate changesaw the gas revenues go from a peak of $ 6.1 billion in 2013 to $ 1.6 billion last year.

With the other major resources in the country, lithium, still underground, the government has almost missed the currencies necessary to import fuel, wheat and other foodstuffs.