Centre-right senator Rodrigo Paz Pereira, 58, received Bolivia’s presidential runoff on Sunday and would be the nation’s subsequent president, marking a shift to the precise after practically 20 years of dominance by the leftist Movimiento al Socialismo (Mas) get together.
With simply over 97% of ballots counted within the electoral courtroom’s “preliminary” tally, Paz Pereira secured 54.5% of the vote, whereas rightwing former president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga obtained 45.5%.
The electoral courtroom burdened that the figures are “preliminary and never definitive”. That’s as a result of Bolivia makes use of two counts: a faster one, primarily based on pictures of every poll despatched to a data-processing centre, and the slower definitive one, wherein each vote is publicly counted and scrutinised at polling stations earlier than coming into the system.
The courtroom has as much as seven days to launch the official outcomes.
A senator for the division of Tarija, Paz Pereira is the son of former president Jaime Paz Zamora, who ruled from 1989 to 1993.
Regardless of being an skilled politician – having served as a metropolis councillor, mayor and congressman – he sought to current himself as an outsider and was the massive shock of the primary spherical, successful after beginning his marketing campaign close to the underside of the opinion polls.
Election day handed with out incident, based on the electoral courtroom and worldwide observers, together with these from the European Union.
Supporters of Bolivia’s presidential candidate Rodrigo Parereira have a good time after studying the outcomes {Photograph}: Martin Bernetti/AFP/Getty Photos
Along with being Bolivia’s first presidential runoff, Sunday’s election marked the primary time since 2005 that no candidate from the Mas get together – which first got here to energy with Evo Morales and later with the present president, Luis Arce – was on the poll for a presidential election.
Deeply unpopular, Arce selected to not run and as an alternative put ahead his inside minister, Eduardo del Castillo, who received simply over 3% of the vote within the first spherical – the minimal wanted for the get together to keep away from shedding its authorized standing.
The collapse of the once-dominant get together is attributed to the bitter feud between Morales and his former political protege Arce and to the nation’s deep financial disaster – its worst in 4 a long time – marked by hovering inflation and shortages of each {dollars} and gas.
Shortly after the polls closed, a picture was posted on the vice-minister of communication’s official Fb web page studying: “The Masistas [Mas members] are lastly leaving! After 20 years of ruining the nation.” The put up was deleted just a few hours later, and it’s nonetheless unclear who uploaded it.
The get together that when held two-thirds of Congress will, within the subsequent legislature, have solely two congressmen and no senators.
The composition of Congress is already seen as one of many predominant challenges for Paz Pereira as president, when he takes workplace on 8 November.
Regardless of his get together, the Partido Demócrata Cristiano (PDC), successful the most important variety of seats, with 49 deputies and 16 senators, it won’t have a majority to make sure the passage of legal guidelines and reforms.
Paz Pereira spent current years travelling throughout Bolivia – by his personal depend, visiting about 220 of the nation’s 327 municipalities – and received significantly in areas that, till lately, have been Mas’ strongholds.
Individuals hug after the preliminary outcomes of Bolivia’s presidential runoff election are introduced. {Photograph}: Claudia Morales/Reuters
In a rustic the place economists estimate that 80% of the workforce is made up of self-employed and casual employees, Paz Pereira campaigned on a platform of “standard capitalism”, promising low-interest loans for small entrepreneurs.
He additionally promised to cancel residents’ money owed to the state to spice up the financial system and mentioned that “there will probably be no extra smuggling as a result of all the pieces will probably be authorized” in Bolivia, pledging to decrease import tariffs on items akin to know-how and automobiles.
However many analysts consider a decisive think about Paz Pereira’s success was the recognition of his working mate, former police captain Edman Lara Montaño, 39.
Often called Capt Lara, he rose to fame for exposing alleged corruption instances inside the police power in movies that went viral on TikTok – which finally led to his expulsion from the power.
Working for the primary time on a banner of “anti-corruption”, Capt Lara as occasions appeared like an unbiased candidate, and has already mentioned he would don’t have any drawback turning towards the following president if he noticed wrongdoing, saying “I’m the assure – if Rodrigo Paz doesn’t ship, I’ll confront him.”
After the outcomes have been introduced, Lara mentioned: “We should rebuild the nation’s financial system; we should assure the availability of diesel and petrol. Individuals are struggling; we have to stabilise the costs of primary items and put an finish to corruption.”
Along with the deep financial disaster, one other “legacy” of Arce that Paz Pereira should take care of is the arrest warrant towards Morales, who for the previous 12 months has been in central Bolivia, the place a whole lot of coca farmers are stopping his arrest for allegedly fathering a toddler with a 15-year-old whereas he was president.
Throughout the marketing campaign, Paz Pereira mentioned that if elected, the regulation could be utilized to Evo Morales “as to another citizen.”
