Bolivia holds presidential runoff marked by clash between right-wing candidates
This is the first second round in the history of the Andean country.
World Opera - More than 7,9 million Bolivians will go to the polls this Sunday (October 19) to elect the country's next president in a contest that, for the first time in two decades, does not involve the left-wing MAS (Movement for Socialism) party. Voters will be able to exercise their right to vote between 8 am and 4 pm local time (between 9 am and 5 pm Brasília time).
Recent polls for the second round indicate that former president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga is the favorite. The candidate from the Liberty and Progress (Libre) alliance is polling at around 45% of the vote, compared to 36,5% for Rodrigo Paz Pereira of the Christian Democratic Party (PDC).
This is the first runoff election in the history of the Andean country – a modality established in the 2009 Constitution. The election is taking place at the height of an economic crisis, high inflation, and fuel shortages due to a lack of foreign currency, some of the factors that impacted the electorate, especially the popular sectors that traditionally cast their votes for the left. The absence of the MAS party also stemmed from internal disputes between the groups of former president Evo Morales and the current president, Luis Arce.
President Evo Morales revealed that he does not support either Quiroga or Paz Pereira, whom he called "chitacos" (servile people) and criticized for seeking support from the United States and credit from international organizations. In August, Paz Pereira received the most votes, with 32,7%, while Quiroga obtained 27,2%. To win the first round, the candidates needed an absolute majority or 40% of the votes, with a 10-point lead over the second-place candidate.
Quiroga, 65, who previously led the country in 2001, proposes a "radical change," as stated in his electoral campaign slogan. In his final rally in El Alto, Bolivia's second most populous city, the leader of the Libre alliance promised to resolve the shortage of dollars and fuel with an international "rescue" plan spearheaded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and transform the country into a "world lithium powerhouse."
“Put me in government and we’ll bring in the dollars,” he promised. Furthermore, he spoke of giving new impetus to the industrialization of Bolivian “white gold,” following the Arce government’s attempt to introduce its direct extraction through contracts with Chinese and Russian companies.
