'Things Will Improve': Bolivians Look Forward To Right's Return
The Movement towards Socialism (MAS), in power since iconic leader Evo Morales was elected to the presidency in 2005, suffered a cataclysmic defeat in Sunday's elections over its handling of a severe economic crisis.
The party's presidential candidate Eduardo del Castillo garnered just 3.1 percent of the vote in the South American nation.
MAS also lost nearly all its Congress seats to the opposition, led by centre-right senator Rodrigo Paz and right-wing ex-president Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga, who snagged the two places in October's presidential run-off.
Franz Yupangui, a 49-year-old lecturer in sustainable engineering, said he hoped the right-ward shift would end the worst shortages of fuel and dollars -- the currency in which Bolivians save -- that he could recall since the 1980s.
"I think that now, given we are going to change to another type of politics, things will improve," he told AFP at a fruit and vegetable market in central La Paz.
Clara Rodriguez, a 54-year-old fruitseller whose business has been hit by rising fuel and food prices, also welcomed the dramatic changes to the political landscape.
"In our country we've lacked many things, and for people with very limited resources, things have been very bad. So I think with this change we're going to move forward," she said as she packed sweet cherimoyas, a fruit native to the Andes, for a customer.
Like many Bolivians, she also voiced relief at the peaceful nature of the election, which contrasted with the violence that erupted in 2019 after Morales claimed victory in polls marked by fraud allegations.
Fears that supporters of Morales, who attempted to stand for an unconstitutional fourth term this year but was barred from running, could wreak havoc came to naught.
"Evistos," as his loyal Indigenous and rural followers are known, instead expressed their frustrations at the ballot box.
Nearly one in five voters -- an historic 19.38 percent -- answered his call to spoil their ballots.
Paz was the surprise winner of the first round, with 32.14 percent of the vote, ahead of Quiroga on 26.81 percent.
Millionaire businessman Samuel Doria Medina, who had been tipped to finish first, trailed in third.
In an interview Monday with Bolivia's El Deber daily, Paz, who campaigned as a moderate, attributed his success to a nationwide listening tour.
"I've been traveling for four years now; I didn't come three months before (the election) on a private plane, land on a runway, and give speeches," he said, in an apparent dig at Doria Medina and Quiroga, dismissed by many voters as the candidates of big business.
Both Paz, son of former president Jaime Paz (1989-1993), and Quiroga, who served a year as president in the early 2000s, launched their second-round campaigns Monday with calls for unity.
The two candidates' programmes converge on some points, such as eliminating fuel subsidies, lowering taxes and breaking with MAS's big-state economic model.
"We must turn the page and begin building a new Bolivia," Quiroga said. Rodrigo Paz (L) and Jorge 'Tuto' Quiroga, two members of Bolivia's resurgent right, will face each other in the country's October 2025 presidential run-off AFP
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Int'l Business Times
17 hours ago
- Int'l Business Times
'Things Will Improve': Bolivians Look Forward To Right's Return
Bolivians on Monday began looking to a future without the ruling socialists of the past two decades, after the first round of presidential and parliamentary elections were won by a resurgent right. The Movement towards Socialism (MAS), in power since iconic leader Evo Morales was elected to the presidency in 2005, suffered a cataclysmic defeat in Sunday's elections over its handling of a severe economic crisis. The party's presidential candidate Eduardo del Castillo garnered just 3.1 percent of the vote in the South American nation. MAS also lost nearly all its Congress seats to the opposition, led by centre-right senator Rodrigo Paz and right-wing ex-president Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga, who snagged the two places in October's presidential run-off. Franz Yupangui, a 49-year-old lecturer in sustainable engineering, said he hoped the right-ward shift would end the worst shortages of fuel and dollars -- the currency in which Bolivians save -- that he could recall since the 1980s. "I think that now, given we are going to change to another type of politics, things will improve," he told AFP at a fruit and vegetable market in central La Paz. Clara Rodriguez, a 54-year-old fruitseller whose business has been hit by rising fuel and food prices, also welcomed the dramatic changes to the political landscape. "In our country we've lacked many things, and for people with very limited resources, things have been very bad. So I think with this change we're going to move forward," she said as she packed sweet cherimoyas, a fruit native to the Andes, for a customer. Like many Bolivians, she also voiced relief at the peaceful nature of the election, which contrasted with the violence that erupted in 2019 after Morales claimed victory in polls marked by fraud allegations. Fears that supporters of Morales, who attempted to stand for an unconstitutional fourth term this year but was barred from running, could wreak havoc came to naught. "Evistos," as his loyal Indigenous and rural followers are known, instead expressed their frustrations at the ballot box. Nearly one in five voters -- an historic 19.38 percent -- answered his call to spoil their ballots. Paz was the surprise winner of the first round, with 32.14 percent of the vote, ahead of Quiroga on 26.81 percent. Millionaire businessman Samuel Doria Medina, who had been tipped to finish first, trailed in third. In an interview Monday with Bolivia's El Deber daily, Paz, who campaigned as a moderate, attributed his success to a nationwide listening tour. "I've been traveling for four years now; I didn't come three months before (the election) on a private plane, land on a runway, and give speeches," he said, in an apparent dig at Doria Medina and Quiroga, dismissed by many voters as the candidates of big business. Both Paz, son of former president Jaime Paz (1989-1993), and Quiroga, who served a year as president in the early 2000s, launched their second-round campaigns Monday with calls for unity. The two candidates' programmes converge on some points, such as eliminating fuel subsidies, lowering taxes and breaking with MAS's big-state economic model. "We must turn the page and begin building a new Bolivia," Quiroga said. Rodrigo Paz (L) and Jorge 'Tuto' Quiroga, two members of Bolivia's resurgent right, will face each other in the country's October 2025 presidential run-off AFP
DW
a day ago
- DW
Bolivia's elections headed for first presidential runoff – DW – 08/18/2025
Bolivians have voted in elections overshadowed by the worst economic crisis in four decades. Early exit polls show that the first round put an end to 20 years of leftist rule in the country. Early exit polls late Sunday showed that Bolivia's presidential race will likely go into a second round, with the ruling leftist party headed to its worst electoral defeat in a generation. Dark horse centrist senator Rodrigo Paz was the surprise leader with over 32% of the vote, according to projections based on partial results by Ipsos and Captura polling firms. Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga, a right-wing former president who briefly led the country in 2001, was second with around 26%. Business tycoon Samuel Doria Medina was projected to be in first place in pre-election polls, but he was relegated to third. Meanwhile, the ruling Movement for Socialism, or MAS, party is on track to lose power after nearly 20 years of dominance. Observers did not expect any candidate would reach the necessary majority in the first round. Presidential candidates need to win more than 50% of the vote, or over 40% support with a 10 percentage point lead, to avoid a runoff. The second round, scheduled on October 19, will be unprecedented in the country's history. Bolivia's general election on Sunday has been overshadowed by the worst economic crisis in four decades and the absence of former leftist President Evo Morales. Sunday's vote could put an end to the Andean nation's long-dominant leftist rule. For the past two decades, Bolivian politics have been defined by the ruling MAS party. Its founder, Morales, who first came to power in 2006, has been barred from running this race by Bolivia's constitutional court. It was ruled that he had already exceeded the two-term limit. The outgoing socialist President, Luis Arce, who had fallen out with Morales, opted not to seek re-election due to his plummeting popularity. Instead, Arce nominated a senior minister, Eduardo del Castillo, to be a MAS candidate. Projections late Sunday show that he had just over 3% of the vote. Morales, who served three consecutive terms, urged his supporters to cast a blank vote in protest over his disqualification. The ex-leader has been holed up in his political stronghold in Bolivia's tropical region of Chapare for months as he evades an arrest warrant on charges related to his sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girlwhile in office.
Int'l Business Times
a day ago
- Int'l Business Times
Two Right-wing Candidates Headed To Bolivia Presidential Run-off: Projection
Two right-wing candidates were expected to advance to a run-off for Bolivia's presidency after topping the first round of elections on Sunday, ending two decades of leftist rule, according to early projections. . He was followed by former right-wing president Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga in second with around 27 percent, the projections showed. Millionaire businessman Samuel Doria Medina, who had been tipped to finish first, trailed in third with 19.5-20.2 percent, far ahead of the main leftist candidate, Senate president Andronico Rodriguez. The election was dominated by the South American nation's worst economic crisis in a generation, which saw voters desert the ruling socialists in droves. Annual inflation hit almost 25 percent in July as the country runs critically short of fuel and dollars, the currency in which most Bolivians keep their savings. The vote brings the curtain down on 20 years of socialist rule, which began in 2005 when Evo Morales, an Indigenous coca farmer, was elected president on a radical anti-capitalist platform. "The left has done us a lot of harm. I want change for the country," Miriam Escobar, a 60-year-old pensioner, told AFP after voting in La Paz. The main right-wing candidates have vowed to shake up Bolivia's big-state economic model and international alliances. "This is a day that will mark the history of Bolivia," Quiroga said after voting in La Paz. He has vowed to slash public spending, open the country to foreign investment and boost ties with the United States, which were downgraded under the combative Morales, who resigned in 2019 following mass protests over alleged election rigging. Agustin Quispe, a 51-year-old miner, branded Quiroga a "dinosaur" and said he backed Paz, who campaigned on a populist programme of fighting corruption, cutting taxes and delvering "capitalism for all." Many Bolivians have cited the kind of shock therapy administered by President Javier Milei to turn around his country's inflation-wracked economy as a model for their homeland. "What people are looking for now, beyond a shift from left to right, is a return to stability," Daniela Osorio Michel, a Bolivian political scientist at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies, told AFP. Quiroga, who is on his fourth run for president, touted his experience in government and multilateral organizations as qualifying him for the task of saving Bolivia from bankruptcy. He served as vice-president under ex-dictator Hugo Banzer and then briefly as president when Banzer stepped down to fight cancer in 2001. Morales, who was barred from standing for a fourth term, has cast a long shadow over the campaign. The 65-year-old called on his rural Indigenous supporters to spoil their ballots over his exclusion and threatened mass protests if the right returns to power. Bolivia enjoyed more than a decade of strong growth and Indigenous upliftment under Morales, who nationalized the gas sector and ploughed the proceeds into social programs that halved extreme poverty. But underinvestment in exploration has caused gas revenues to implode, falling from a peak of $6.1 billion in 2013 to $1.6 billion last year. With the country's other major resource, lithium, still underground, the government has nearly run out of the foreign exchange needed to import fuel, wheat and other key commodities. Two right-wing candidates are leading the race for president in Bolivia AFP "Voto nulo": Evo Morales has called on his supporters to spoil their ballots AFP Former president Jorge 'Tuto' Quiroga Ramirez (L) was trailing Senator Rodrigo Paz (R), with both candidates projected to head to a runoff in October AFP
