Latest news with #Evo Morales
News.com.au
2 days ago
- Business
- News.com.au
Bolivian voters hope for change after 20 years of socialism
Bolivians expressed hopes of radical change on Sunday as they voted in elections shaped by a generational economic crisis, which has given the right its first shot at power in 20 years. The Andean nation's ailing economy has seen annual inflation hit almost 25 percent with critical shortages of fuel and dollars, the currency in which most Bolivians keep their savings. Polls show voters poised to punish the ruling Movement Towards Socialism (known by its Spanish acronym MAS), in power since Evo Morales was elected the nation's first Indigenous president in 2005. "The left has done us a lot of harm. I want change for the country," said Miriam Escobar, a 60-year-old pensioner, who was the first to vote at a school in southern La Paz. More than 7.9 million Bolivians are obliged by law to cast a vote for one of eight presidential candidates as well as 166 members of the country's bicameral legislature. Center-right business tycoon Samuel Doria Medina and right-wing ex-president Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga are the favorites to succeed Morales's successor, Luis Arce, who is not seeking re-election. - 'Day that will mark history' - Polls showed Doria Medina, 66, and Quiroga, 65, neck-and-neck on around 20 percent, with the main left-wing candidate, Senate leader Andronico Rodriguez, trailing far behind. A run-off will take place on October 19 if no candidate wins an outright majority. The two frontrunners have vowed to shake up Bolivia's big-state economic model and international alliances if elected. "This is a day that will mark the history of Bolivia," Quiroga said after voting in La Paz in a white shirt and black jacket. Doria Medina, who also voted in La Paz, expressed confidence that the country of 11.3 million could "emerge from this economic crisis peacefully, democratically." Both men want to slash public spending, open the country to foreign investment and boost ties with the United States, which were downgraded under the combative Morales, a self-described anti-capitalist who resigned from office in 2019 following mass protests over alleged election rigging. Agustin Quispe, a 51-year-old miner, branded the pair "dinosaurs" and said he would back center-right candidate Rodrigo Paz, who has campaigned on fighting corruption. - Shock therapy - Several voters compared Bolivia's predicament to that of Argentina, where voters dumped the long-ruling leftist Peronists and elected libertarian candidate Javier Milei in 2023, in a bid to end a deep crisis. Emanuel Arratia, a 31-year-old graphic designer, said he believed the Bolivian economy needed Milei-style "shock" therapy. "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. Doria Medina and Quiroga, both on their fourth run for president, have touted their experience in business and politics as qualifying them for the tall task of saving Bolivia from bankruptcy. Doria Medina, a millionaire, built Bolivia's biggest skyscraper and owns the local Burger King fast food franchise. Quiroga served as vice-president under ex-dictator Hugo Banzer and then briefly as president when Banzer stepped down to fight cancer in 2001. - Morales looms large - Morales, who was barred from standing for a fourth term, has cast a long shadow over the campaign. The 65-year-old has called on his rural Indigenous supporters to spoil their ballots in protest at his exclusion. Voting in his central Cochambamba stronghold, he slammed "an election without the people," of whom he claims to be the sole representative. Several working-class voters told AFP they would spoil their ballots because they did not feel represented by the candidates. 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.
Khaleej Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Khaleej Times
Bolivian right eyes return in elections marked by economic crisis
Bolivians expressed hopes of change on Sunday as they voted in elections shaped by an economic crisis, which has given the right its first shot at power in 20 years. The Andean country is struggling through its worst crisis in a generation, marked by annual inflation of almost 25 per cent and critical shortages of fuel and foreign exchange. Polls show voters poised to punish the ruling Movement Towards Socialism (known by its Spanish acronym MAS), in power since Evo Morales was elected Bolivia's first Indigenous president in 2005. "We're experiencing a tremendous crisis so we need a change," Alicia Vacaflor, a 62-year-old importer of industrial machines, told AFP after voting in the biting cold at a school in central La Paz. Karla Coronel, a 46-year-old market analyst, agreed on the need for a new direction. "Socialism has brought us nothing good," she declared. More than 7.9 million Bolivians are eligible to vote Sunday, choosing between eight presidential candidates as well as electing 166 members of Bolivia's bicameral legislature. Center-right business tycoon Samuel Doria Medina and right-wing ex-president Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga are the favorites to succeed Morales's unpopular successor, Luis Arce, who is not seeking re-election. Polls showed Doria Medina, 66, and Quiroga, 65, neck-and-neck on around 20 percent, with six other candidates, including left-wing Senate leader Andronico Rodriguez, trailing far behind. A run-off will take place on October 19 if no candidate wins an outright majority. The two frontrunners have vowed radical reforms to Bolivia's big-state economic model if elected. They want to slash public spending, open the country to foreign investment and boost ties with the United States, which were downgraded under the combative Morales, a self-described anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist. "Today is a very important day for Bolivians because through voting we can emerge from this economic crisis peacefully, democratically," Doria Medina told the press after voting at a polling station in La Paz. Agustin Quispe, a 51-year-old miner, accused both the left and right of failing to advance "new ideas." Branding Doria Medina and Quiroga, both of whom are on their fourth run for president, "dinosaurs," he said he supported centre-right candidate Rodrigo Paz. - Shades of Argentina - Analysts say the election resembles that of Argentina in 2023, when voters dumped the long-ruling leftist Peronists and elected libertarian candidate Javier Milei in a bid to end a deep economic crisis. "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. Unlike Milei, who was a political newcomer, Doria Medina and Quiroga are experienced candidates. Doria Medina, a millionaire former planning minister, made a fortune in cement before going on to build Bolivia's biggest skyscraper and acquire the local Burger King fast food franchise. Seen as a moderate, he has vowed to halt inflation and bring back fuel and dollars within 100 days, without cutting anti-poverty programs. The tough-talking Quiroga, who trained as an engineer in the United States, served as vice-president under ex-dictator Hugo Banzer and then briefly as president when Banzer stepped down to fight cancer in 2001. "We will change everything, absolutely everything after 20 lost years," he trumpeted during his closing rally in La Paz on Wednesday. - Morales looms large - 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. Bolivians have repeatedly taken to the streets to protest against rocketing prices and hours-long waits for fuel, bread and other basics. Morales, who was barred from standing for a fourth term, has cast a long shadow over the campaign. The 65-year-old has called on his mostly rural Indigenous supporters to spoil their ballots over the refusal by electoral authorities to allow him to run again.
Washington Post
12-08-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Bolivia's election may spell the end of its long-ruling left. Here's what to know
LA PAZ, Bolivia — For most of Renan Aliaga's adult life, a single name dominated the politics of Bolivia: Evo Morales . Morales, a former union leader for coca farmers, founded the Andean nation's most successful political party and transformed Bolivia over three consecutive terms marked by political stability and economic growth. But when Aliaga goes to the polls on Sunday to vote for Bolivia's next president, he won't see Morales' name on the ballot after electoral authorities excluded him. In fact, for the first time in two decades, Aliaga won't see any big name from the governing Movement Toward Socialism, or MAS, party that Morales founded — not even President Luis Arce , Morales' protege-turned-rival, who withdrew from the race over his failure to halt an economic tailspin . Under MAS, Bolivia enjoyed years of a fixed exchange rate, low inflation and subsidized energy. Now, high inflation, a scarcity of imported goods and fuel shortages have beset the country. Arce handed the reins to a little-known minister, Eduardo Del Castillo . The main options remaining include a conservative businessman and right-wing former president — both of whom have run and lost three times before — and a young leftist Senate leader . Unsatisfied, Aliaga, a 39-year-old bus driver and former MAS voter, says he'll make a last-minute decision. 'The right wing had its chance, and it was a disaster,' he said, recalling the hardship of the 1990s, when Bolivia became a poster child for free-market economics and the two right-wing front-runners — businessman Samuel Doria Medina and ex-President Jorge 'Tuto' Quiroga — built their careers. 'But the left wing has proven to be the same, or worse,' Aliaga said, referring to how the MAS strategy of nationalizing resources and redistributing tax receipts sputtered out with the end of the commodities boom. The main issues in this hotly contested election are Bolivia's long-standing leftist economic model, its democratic integrity and the livelihoods of millions of people undergoing the country's worst financial crisis in four decades. 'This seems the end of the cycle not only for MAS, but for an entire model of government,' Bolivia political analyst Verónica Rocha said. Tensions within MAS can be traced to Morales' disputed 2019 reelection . Protests erupted and the leftist leader resigned under pressure from the military. He fled into exile and right-wing Senator Jeanine Áñez took office in what many view as a coup. Violent clashes between protesters and security forces killed at least 37 people. Morales returned to Bolivia following the 2020 election victory of his former finance minister, Arce. But their competing ambitions collided when Morales announced his intention to return to politics. Lawmakers loyal to Morales deprived Arce's government of its majority. Judges answering to Arce ordered Morales' arrest over his sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl and barred his 2025 presidential candidacy on account of his past terms. 'MAS torpedoed its own chances of winning this election,' said Gustavo Flores-Macías, a professor of government and public policy at Cornell University. A young vice president, Quiroga became interim leader in 2001 when then President Hugo Banzer, Bolivia's former military dictator , resigned because of terminal cancer with a year left in his term. Ever since, Quiroga has yearned for a term of his own. He ran three times — twice against Morales in 2005 and 2014. Now 65, he's hoping the fourth time's the charm. Doria Medina , 66, a former minister of planning from 1991-1993 made his fortune in cement and owns Bolivia's Burger King franchise. Dubbed the 'eternal candidate,' he lost to Morales in 2005, 2009 and 2014, as Bolivia's natural gas windfall , underwritten by public investment and generous subsidies, buoyed the union leader's popularity. When commodity prices slumped and gas production plummeted , Morales' 'economic miracle' went bust . Now once-routine errands have turned into nightmares as Bolivians wait in fuel lines that wrap around city blocks, run from pharmacy to pharmacy in search of medicines and queue for subsidized bread that has shrunk to almost half its normal size. This may give the opposition its first real shot at power in two decades. Yet Bolivians interviewed across the administrative capital of La Paz expressed not only frustration with the MAS party, but also disappointment in the right-wing establishment. 'If people vote for the right, it's because they're resigned to it as the only alternative,' said Bolivian author Quya Reyna. 'These are recycled politicians from the 1990s era of privatization.' Doria Medina and Quiroga vow to slash fuel subsidies , dismantle inefficient state-owned companies, let foreign investors mine Bolivia's abundant lithium reserves and reorient the nation's foreign policy toward the United States after years of its alignment with China and Russia. Graffiti sprayed across La Paz reads '100 days, dammit' — Doria Medina's pledge to fix fuel shortages and stabilize the exchange rate within his first 100 days. Motorists waiting for hours to get gas find themselves facing billboards of Quiroga promising 'No more lines!' If no candidate wins a majority of the vote, a runoff between the top two finishers will be held on Oct. 19. Voter cynicism is widespread, with many Bolivians saying that they have no faith in any of the candidates to improve their lives. Longtime MAS voters wary of austerity under a right-wing president aren't sure where to turn. Some initially pinned their hopes on 36-year-old Senate President Andrónico Rodríguez, a coca-farming union activist who could have appealed to Indigenous communities looking for the kind of representation they found under Morales . But Morales branded Rodríguez a traitor for advancing his own candidacy. The Senate leader has made few public appearances since. A rare centrist candidate, lawmaker Rodrigo Paz and his media-savvy running mate, ex-Police Captain Edman Lara, have recently energized young voters with TikTok videos from the campaign trail. With Doria Medina and Quiroga neck and neck, Paz could play kingmaker. But their Christian Democratic Party's blistering attacks on both MAS and the right-wing have left some voters without a clear sense of where they stand. 'We've all been raised on politicians' broken promises,' said Irma Marín, 38, shouting to be heard over the crowd at a Paz-Lara campaign rally Sunday. 'I'm not sure who to trust.' Facing an arrest warrant, Morales, 66, has been holed up for months in his tropical stronghold of Chapare. His followers staged raucous protests against his removal from the race, blocking key roads and confronting police in clashes in June that killed four officers and four civilians. Morales is urging voters to register their rage by casting null-and-void ballots. 'Null votes signal that these elections are not legitimate and the next government of Bolivia won't be legitimate,' said Chris Velasco, an organizer close to Morales. 'That will mean political instability, social instability.'
Yahoo
12-08-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bolivia's election may spell the end of its long-ruling left. Here's what to know
Bolivia Arce LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — For most of Renan Aliaga's adult life, a single name dominated the politics of Bolivia: Evo Morales. Morales, a former union leader for coca farmers, founded the Andean nation's most successful political party and transformed Bolivia over three consecutive terms marked by political stability and economic growth. But when Aliaga goes to the polls on Sunday to vote for Bolivia's next president, he won't see Morales' name on the ballot after electoral authorities excluded him. In fact, for the first time in two decades, Aliaga won't see any big name from the governing Movement Toward Socialism, or MAS, party that Morales founded — not even President Luis Arce, Morales' protege-turned-rival, who withdrew from the race over his failure to halt an economic tailspin. Under MAS, Bolivia enjoyed years of a fixed exchange rate, low inflation and subsidized energy. Now, high inflation, a scarcity of imported goods and fuel shortages have beset the country. The options Arce handed the reins to a little-known minister, Eduardo Del Castillo. The main options remaining include a conservative businessman and right-wing former president — both of whom have run and lost three times before — and a young leftist Senate leader. Unsatisfied, Aliaga, a 39-year-old bus driver and former MAS voter, says he'll make a last-minute decision. 'The right wing had its chance, and it was a disaster,' he said, recalling the hardship of the 1990s, when Bolivia became a poster child for free-market economics and the two right-wing front-runners — businessman Samuel Doria Medina and ex-President Jorge 'Tuto' Quiroga — built their careers. 'But the left wing has proven to be the same, or worse,' Aliaga said, referring to how the MAS strategy of nationalizing resources and redistributing tax receipts sputtered out with the end of the commodities boom. What's at stake The main issues in this hotly contested election are Bolivia's long-standing leftist economic model, its democratic integrity and the livelihoods of millions of people undergoing the country's worst financial crisis in four decades. 'This seems the end of the cycle not only for MAS, but for an entire model of government,' Bolivia political analyst Verónica Rocha said. 'MAS torpedoed its own chances' Tensions within MAS can be traced to Morales' disputed 2019 reelection. Protests erupted and the leftist leader resigned under pressure from the military. He fled into exile and right-wing Senator Jeanine Áñez took office in what many view as a coup. Violent clashes between protesters and security forces killed at least 37 people. Morales returned to Bolivia following the 2020 election victory of his former finance minister, Arce. But their competing ambitions collided when Morales announced his intention to return to politics. Lawmakers loyal to Morales deprived Arce's government of its majority. Judges answering to Arce ordered Morales' arrest over his sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl and barred his 2025 presidential candidacy on account of his past terms. 'MAS torpedoed its own chances of winning this election,' said Gustavo Flores-Macías, a professor of government and public policy at Cornell University. Old guard opposition fails to unite A young vice president, Quiroga became interim leader in 2001 when then President Hugo Banzer, Bolivia's former military dictator, resigned because of terminal cancer with a year left in his term. Ever since, Quiroga has yearned for a term of his own. He ran three times — twice against Morales in 2005 and 2014. Now 65, he's hoping the fourth time's the charm. Doria Medina, 66, a former minister of planning from 1991-1993 made his fortune in cement and owns Bolivia's Burger King franchise. Dubbed the 'eternal candidate,' he lost to Morales in 2005, 2009 and 2014, as Bolivia's natural gas windfall, underwritten by public investment and generous subsidies, buoyed the union leader's popularity. Economic woes When commodity prices slumped and gas production plummeted, Morales' 'economic miracle' went bust. Now once-routine errands have turned into nightmares as Bolivians wait in fuel lines that wrap around city blocks, run from pharmacy to pharmacy in search of medicines and queue for subsidized bread that has shrunk to almost half its normal size. This may give the opposition its first real shot at power in two decades. Yet Bolivians interviewed across the administrative capital of La Paz expressed not only frustration with the MAS party, but also disappointment in the right-wing establishment. 'If people vote for the right, it's because they're resigned to it as the only alternative,' said Bolivian author Quya Reyna. 'These are recycled politicians from the 1990s era of privatization." Doria Medina and Quiroga vow to slash fuel subsidies, dismantle inefficient state-owned companies, let foreign investors mine Bolivia's abundant lithium reserves and reorient the nation's foreign policy toward the United States after years of its alignment with China and Russia. Graffiti sprayed across La Paz reads '100 days, dammit" — Doria Medina's pledge to fix fuel shortages and stabilize the exchange rate within his first 100 days. Motorists waiting for hours to get gas find themselves facing billboards of Quiroga promising 'No more lines!' If no candidate wins a majority of the vote, a runoff between the top two finishers will be held on Oct. 19. A decimated left Voter cynicism is widespread, with many Bolivians saying that they have no faith in any of the candidates to improve their lives. Longtime MAS voters wary of austerity under a right-wing president aren't sure where to turn. Some initially pinned their hopes on 36-year-old Senate President Andrónico Rodríguez, a coca-farming union activist who could have appealed to Indigenous communities looking for the kind of representation they found under Morales. But Morales branded Rodríguez a traitor for advancing his own candidacy. The Senate leader has made few public appearances since. A rare centrist candidate, lawmaker Rodrigo Paz and his media-savvy running mate, ex-Police Captain Edman Lara, have recently energized young voters with TikTok videos from the campaign trail. With Doria Medina and Quiroga neck and neck, Paz could play kingmaker. But their Christian Democratic Party's blistering attacks on both MAS and the right-wing have left some voters without a clear sense of where they stand. 'We've all been raised on politicians' broken promises,' said Irma Marín, 38, shouting to be heard over the crowd at a Paz-Lara campaign rally Sunday. 'I'm not sure who to trust.' Campaigning for null votes Facing an arrest warrant, Morales, 66, has been holed up for months in his tropical stronghold of Chapare. His followers staged raucous protests against his removal from the race, blocking key roads and confronting police in clashes in June that killed four officers and four civilians. Morales is urging voters to register their rage by casting null-and-void ballots. 'Null votes signal that these elections are not legitimate and the next government of Bolivia won't be legitimate,' said Chris Velasco, an organizer close to Morales. 'That will mean political instability, social instability.'
Associated Press
12-08-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Bolivia's election may spell the end of its long-ruling left. Here's what to know
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — For most of Renan Aliaga's adult life, a single name dominated the politics of Bolivia: Evo Morales. Morales, a former union leader for coca farmers, founded the Andean nation's most successful political party and transformed Bolivia over three consecutive terms marked by political stability and economic growth. But when Aliaga goes to the polls on Sunday to vote for Bolivia's next president, he won't see Morales' name on the ballot after electoral authorities excluded him. In fact, for the first time in two decades, Aliaga won't see any big name from the governing Movement Toward Socialism, or MAS, party that Morales founded — not even President Luis Arce, Morales' protege-turned-rival, who withdrew from the race over his failure to halt an economic tailspin. Under MAS, Bolivia enjoyed years of a fixed exchange rate, low inflation and subsidized energy. Now, high inflation, a scarcity of imported goods and fuel shortages have beset the country. The options Arce handed the reins to a little-known minister, Eduardo Del Castillo. The main options remaining include a conservative businessman and right-wing former president — both of whom have run and lost three times before — and a young leftist Senate leader. Unsatisfied, Aliaga, a 39-year-old bus driver and former MAS voter, says he'll make a last-minute decision. 'The right wing had its chance, and it was a disaster,' he said, recalling the hardship of the 1990s, when Bolivia became a poster child for free-market economics and the two right-wing front-runners — businessman Samuel Doria Medina and ex-President Jorge 'Tuto' Quiroga — built their careers. 'But the left wing has proven to be the same, or worse,' Aliaga said, referring to how the MAS strategy of nationalizing resources and redistributing tax receipts sputtered out with the end of the commodities boom. What's at stake The main issues in this hotly contested election are Bolivia's long-standing leftist economic model, its democratic integrity and the livelihoods of millions of people undergoing the country's worst financial crisis in four decades. 'This seems the end of the cycle not only for MAS, but for an entire model of government,' Bolivia political analyst Verónica Rocha said. 'MAS torpedoed its own chances' Tensions within MAS can be traced to Morales' disputed 2019 reelection. Protests erupted and the leftist leader resigned under pressure from the military. He fled into exile and right-wing Senator Jeanine Áñez took office in what many view as a coup. Violent clashes between protesters and security forces killed at least 37 people. Morales returned to Bolivia following the 2020 election victory of his former finance minister, Arce. But their competing ambitions collided when Morales announced his intention to return to politics. Lawmakers loyal to Morales deprived Arce's government of its majority. Judges answering to Arce ordered Morales' arrest over his sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl and barred his 2025 presidential candidacy on account of his past terms. 'MAS torpedoed its own chances of winning this election,' said Gustavo Flores-Macías, a professor of government and public policy at Cornell University. Old guard opposition fails to unite A young vice president, Quiroga became interim leader in 2001 when then President Hugo Banzer, Bolivia's former military dictator, resigned because of terminal cancer with a year left in his term. Ever since, Quiroga has yearned for a term of his own. He ran three times — twice against Morales in 2005 and 2014. Now 65, he's hoping the fourth time's the charm. Doria Medina, 66, a former minister of planning from 1991-1993 made his fortune in cement and owns Bolivia's Burger King franchise. Dubbed the 'eternal candidate,' he lost to Morales in 2005, 2009 and 2014, as Bolivia's natural gas windfall, underwritten by public investment and generous subsidies, buoyed the union leader's popularity. Economic woes When commodity prices slumped and gas production plummeted, Morales' 'economic miracle' went bust. Now once-routine errands have turned into nightmares as Bolivians wait in fuel lines that wrap around city blocks, run from pharmacy to pharmacy in search of medicines and queue for subsidized bread that has shrunk to almost half its normal size. This may give the opposition its first real shot at power in two decades. Yet Bolivians interviewed across the administrative capital of La Paz expressed not only frustration with the MAS party, but also disappointment in the right-wing establishment. 'If people vote for the right, it's because they're resigned to it as the only alternative,' said Bolivian author Quya Reyna. 'These are recycled politicians from the 1990s era of privatization.' Doria Medina and Quiroga vow to slash fuel subsidies, dismantle inefficient state-owned companies, let foreign investors mine Bolivia's abundant lithium reserves and reorient the nation's foreign policy toward the United States after years of its alignment with China and Russia. Graffiti sprayed across La Paz reads '100 days, dammit' — Doria Medina's pledge to fix fuel shortages and stabilize the exchange rate within his first 100 days. Motorists waiting for hours to get gas find themselves facing billboards of Quiroga promising 'No more lines!' If no candidate wins a majority of the vote, a runoff between the top two finishers will be held on Oct. 19. A decimated left Voter cynicism is widespread, with many Bolivians saying that they have no faith in any of the candidates to improve their lives. Longtime MAS voters wary of austerity under a right-wing president aren't sure where to turn. Some initially pinned their hopes on 36-year-old Senate President Andrónico Rodríguez, a coca-farming union activist who could have appealed to Indigenous communities looking for the kind of representation they found under Morales. But Morales branded Rodríguez a traitor for advancing his own candidacy. The Senate leader has made few public appearances since. A rare centrist candidate, lawmaker Rodrigo Paz and his media-savvy running mate, ex-Police Captain Edman Lara, have recently energized young voters with TikTok videos from the campaign trail. With Doria Medina and Quiroga neck and neck, Paz could play kingmaker. But their Christian Democratic Party's blistering attacks on both MAS and the right-wing have left some voters without a clear sense of where they stand. 'We've all been raised on politicians' broken promises,' said Irma Marín, 38, shouting to be heard over the crowd at a Paz-Lara campaign rally Sunday. 'I'm not sure who to trust.' Campaigning for null votes Facing an arrest warrant, Morales, 66, has been holed up for months in his tropical stronghold of Chapare. His followers staged raucous protests against his removal from the race, blocking key roads and confronting police in clashes in June that killed four officers and four civilians. Morales is urging voters to register their rage by casting null-and-void ballots. 'Null votes signal that these elections are not legitimate and the next government of Bolivia won't be legitimate,' said Chris Velasco, an organizer close to Morales. 'That will mean political instability, social instability.'
