Latest news with #LA PAZ
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bolivia heads to a runoff after an election ends two decades of ruling party dominance
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivia's presidential vote is headed to an unprecedented runoff after Sunday's election ended over two decades of ruling party dominance in the Andean nation. A centrist, Sen. Rodrigo Paz, drew more votes than the front-runners, although not enough to secure an outright victory, early results showed. Paz, a former mayor who has sought to soften the edges of the opposition's push for austerity to rescue Bolivia from a looming economic collapse, will face off against former President Jorge 'Tuto' Quiroga, who finished second. Bolivia holds the presidential runoff — its first since its 1982 return to democracy — on Oct. 19. 'This economic model must change,' Paz declared to crowds who cheered and chanted, 'Renewal!' Paz's campaign had gained unexpected traction as he teamed up with Edman Lara, a social media savvy ex-police captain with evangelical backing whose supporters see him as someone willing to stand up to corruption in the security forces. With over 91% of the ballots counted Sunday, Paz received 32.8% of the votes cast. Quiroga secured 26.4%. Candidates needed to surpass 50%, or 40% with a 10-point margin of victory, to avoid a runoff. Quiroga congratulated Paz on his lead. 'What happened is unprecedented,' he said. 'Bolivia told the world that we want to live in a free nation.' An establishment confronts its demise The results delivered a blow to Bolivia's Movement Toward Socialism, or MAS, party, which has governed almost uninterrupted since its founder, charismatic ex-President Evo Morales, rose to power as part of the 'pink tide' of leaders who swept into office across Latin America during the commodities boom of the early 2000s. The official MAS candidate, Eduardo del Castillo, finished sixth with 3.2% of the vote. A candidate considered to be the party's best hope, 36-year-old Senate president Andrónico Rodríguez, captured 8% of the vote. During his almost 14 years in power, Morales expanded the rights of the country's Indigenous majority, defended coca growers against U.S.-backed eradication programs and poured natural gas profits into social programs. But the maverick leader's increasingly high-handed attempts to prolong his presidency — along with allegations of sexual relations with underage girls — soured public opinion against him. Discontent turned into outrage as Bolivia's once-stable economy imploded under Morales' protégé-turned-rival, President Luis Arce. Annual inflation rate has soared from 2% less than two years ago to 25% as of last month. A scarcity of fuel has paralyzed the country. A shortage of U.S. dollars needed to pay for essential imports like wheat has crippled the economy. As the crisis accelerated, MAS leaders traded blame. A power struggle between Morales and Arce fractured the bloc and handed the opposition its first real shot at victory in decades, even as its uncharismatic candidates failed to unite. Morales' supports heed calls to vote null Blocked from running by a court ruling on term limits, Morales has been holed up in his stronghold of Chapare for months evading an arrest warrant for allegedly impregnating a 15-year-old girl while president. He has branded Rodríguez a traitor for competing and encouraged his supporters to register their anger at his exclusion by casting null-and-void ballots. His followers appeared to heed his call: An unusually high proportion of votes, 19%, were deemed invalid. Usually the share of blank and null votes doesn't exceed 6%. Voting even in the restive jungle largely passed peacefully, authorities said, with only minor disruptions. A dynamite stick went off near the school where Rodríguez planned to cast his ballot in Chapare. When he arrived hours later, pro-Morales crowds assaulted him with bottles and rocks as he voted. Whisked away by guards, Rodríguez later called it a 'difficult moment.' A centrist takes a surprise lead The win for Paz came as a shock to a nation that had been conditioned by weeks of opinion polls to expect that the leading contenders, Quiroga and businessman Samuel Doria Medina, would capture the top two spots. Paz has sought to distance himself from pledges by Quiroga and Doria Medina to sell Bolivia's abundant lithium reserves to foreign companies and turn to the International Monetary Fund for billions of dollars of loans. But he has also launched blistering attacks on the MAS party and its economic model. 'I want to congratulate the people because this is a sign of change,' Paz said. New face, old roots Despite their grand promises, Doria Medina and Quiroga struggled to stir up voter excitement. Bolivians associate them both with the U.S.-backed neoliberal administrations that Morales repudiated when he stormed to office in 2006, declaring an end to Bolivia's 20-year experiment with free-market capitalism. 'If they couldn't govern well before, what makes us think they'll do it now?' asked Yaitzel Poma, 30, as she celebrated in the capital of La Paz. 'We have to learn from the past to make better choices.' Bolivia faces a return to belt-tightening. After years of alignment with world powers like China and Russia, it seems set to reconcile with the United States. Paz supporters have described the former mayor Bolivia's southern town of Tarija as a fresh face with new ideas. But Paz, too, has deep ties to Bolivia's old political elite. The 57-year-old lawmaker is the son of former President Jaime Paz Zamora, who began his political career as a co-founder of the Revolutionary Left Movement, a party persecuted under the bloody military dictatorship of Hugo Banzer in the 1970s. 'What we're doing is moving back in time,' said Kathryn Ledebur, director of the Andean Information Network, a Bolivian research group. 'This is not a new actor with dynamic policies." Isabel Debre, The Associated Press
Washington Post
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Bolivia heads to a runoff after an election ends two decades of ruling party dominance
LA PAZ, Bolivia — Bolivia's presidential vote is headed to an unprecedented runoff after Sunday's election ended over two decades of ruling party dominance in the Andean nation. A centrist, Sen. Rodrigo Paz, drew more votes than the front-runners, although not enough to secure an outright victory, early results showed.
Associated Press
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
Bolivia heads to a runoff after an election ends two decades of ruling party dominance
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivia's presidential vote is headed to an unprecedented runoff after Sunday's election ended over two decades of ruling party dominance in the Andean nation. A centrist, Sen. Rodrigo Paz, drew more votes than the front-runners, although not enough to secure an outright victory, early results showed. Paz, a former mayor who has sought to soften the edges of the opposition's push for austerity to rescue Bolivia from a looming economic collapse, will face off against former President Jorge 'Tuto' Quiroga, who finished second. Bolivia holds the presidential runoff — its first since its 1982 return to democracy — on Oct. 19. 'This economic model must change,' Paz declared to crowds who cheered and chanted, 'Renewal!' Paz's campaign had gained unexpected traction as he teamed up with Edman Lara, a social media savvy ex-police captain with evangelical backing whose supporters see him as someone willing to stand up to corruption in the security forces. With over 91% of the ballots counted Sunday, Paz received 32.8% of the votes cast. Quiroga secured 26.4%. Candidates needed to surpass 50%, or 40% with a 10-point margin of victory, to avoid a runoff. Quiroga congratulated Paz on his lead. 'What happened is unprecedented,' he said. 'Bolivia told the world that we want to live in a free nation.' An establishment confronts its demise The results delivered a blow to Bolivia's Movement Toward Socialism, or MAS, party, which has governed almost uninterrupted since its founder, charismatic ex-President Evo Morales, rose to power as part of the 'pink tide' of leaders who swept into office across Latin America during the commodities boom of the early 2000s. The official MAS candidate, Eduardo del Castillo, finished sixth with 3.2% of the vote. A candidate considered to be the party's best hope, 36-year-old Senate president Andrónico Rodríguez, captured 8% of the vote. During his almost 14 years in power, Morales expanded the rights of the country's Indigenous majority, defended coca growers against U.S.-backed eradication programs and poured natural gas profits into social programs. But the maverick leader's increasingly high-handed attempts to prolong his presidency — along with allegations of sexual relations with underage girls — soured public opinion against him. Discontent turned into outrage as Bolivia's once-stable economy imploded under Morales' protégé-turned-rival, President Luis Arce. Annual inflation rate has soared from 2% less than two years ago to 25% as of last month. A scarcity of fuel has paralyzed the country. A shortage of U.S. dollars needed to pay for essential imports like wheat has crippled the economy. As the crisis accelerated, MAS leaders traded blame. A power struggle between Morales and Arce fractured the bloc and handed the opposition its first real shot at victory in decades, even as its uncharismatic candidates failed to unite. Morales' supports heed calls to vote null Blocked from running by a court ruling on term limits, Morales has been holed up in his stronghold of Chapare for months evading an arrest warrant for allegedly impregnating a 15-year-old girl while president. He has branded Rodríguez a traitor for competing and encouraged his supporters to register their anger at his exclusion by casting null-and-void ballots. His followers appeared to heed his call: An unusually high proportion of votes, 19%, were deemed invalid. Usually the share of blank and null votes doesn't exceed 6%. Voting even in the restive jungle largely passed peacefully, authorities said, with only minor disruptions. A dynamite stick went off near the school where Rodríguez planned to cast his ballot in Chapare. When he arrived hours later, pro-Morales crowds assaulted him with bottles and rocks as he voted. Whisked away by guards, Rodríguez later called it a 'difficult moment.' A centrist takes a surprise lead The win for Paz came as a shock to a nation that had been conditioned by weeks of opinion polls to expect that the leading contenders, Quiroga and businessman Samuel Doria Medina, would capture the top two spots. Paz has sought to distance himself from pledges by Quiroga and Doria Medina to sell Bolivia's abundant lithium reserves to foreign companies and turn to the International Monetary Fund for billions of dollars of loans. But he has also launched blistering attacks on the MAS party and its economic model. 'I want to congratulate the people because this is a sign of change,' Paz said. New face, old roots Despite their grand promises, Doria Medina and Quiroga struggled to stir up voter excitement. Bolivians associate them both with the U.S.-backed neoliberal administrations that Morales repudiated when he stormed to office in 2006, declaring an end to Bolivia's 20-year experiment with free-market capitalism. 'If they couldn't govern well before, what makes us think they'll do it now?' asked Yaitzel Poma, 30, as she celebrated in the capital of La Paz. 'We have to learn from the past to make better choices.' Bolivia faces a return to belt-tightening. After years of alignment with world powers like China and Russia, it seems set to reconcile with the United States. Paz supporters have described the former mayor Bolivia's southern town of Tarija as a fresh face with new ideas. But Paz, too, has deep ties to Bolivia's old political elite. The 57-year-old lawmaker is the son of former President Jaime Paz Zamora, who began his political career as a co-founder of the Revolutionary Left Movement, a party persecuted under the bloody military dictatorship of Hugo Banzer in the 1970s. 'What we're doing is moving back in time,' said Kathryn Ledebur, director of the Andean Information Network, a Bolivian research group. 'This is not a new actor with dynamic policies.'
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Bolivia heads to the polls as its right-wing opposition eyes first victory in decades
Bolivia Election LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivians headed to the polls on Sunday to vote in presidential and congressional elections that could spell the end of the Andean nation's long-dominant leftist party and see a right-wing government elected for the first time in over two decades. The election on Sunday is one of the most consequential for Bolivia in recent times — and one of the most unpredictable. Even at this late stage, a remarkable 30% or so of voters remain undecided. Polls show the two leading right-wing candidates, multimillionaire business owner Samuel Doria Medina and former President Jorge Fernando 'Tuto' Quiroga, locked in a virtual dead heat. Many undecided voters But a right-wing victory isn't assured. Many longtime voters for the governing Movement Toward Socialism, or MAS, party, now shattered by infighting, live in rural areas and tend to be undercounted in polling. With the nation's worst economic crisis in four decades leaving Bolivians waiting for hours in fuel lines, struggling to find subsidized bread and squeezed by double-digit inflation, the opposition candidates are billing the race as a chance to alter the country's destiny. 'I have rarely, if ever, seen a situational tinderbox with as many sparks ready to ignite,' Daniel Lansberg-Rodriguez, founding partner of Aurora Macro Strategies, a New York-based advisory firm, writes in a memo. Breaking the MAS party's monopoly on political power, he adds, pushes 'the country into uncharted political waters amid rising polarization, severe economic fragility and a widening rural–urban divide.' Bolivia could follow rightward trend The outcome will determine whether Bolivia — a nation of about 12 million people with the largest lithium reserves on Earth and crucial deposits of rare earth minerals — follows a growing trend in Latin America, where right-wing leaders like Argentina's libertarian Javier Milei, Ecuador's strongman Daniel Noboa and El Salvador's conservative populist Nayib Bukele have surged in popularity. A right-wing government in Bolivia could trigger a major geopolitical realignment for a country now allied with Venezuela's socialist-inspired government and world powers such as China, Russia and Iran. Conservative candidates vow to restore US relations Doria Medina and Quiroga have praised the Trump administration and vowed to restore ties with the United States — ruptured in 2008 when charismatic, long-serving former President Evo Morales expelled the American ambassador. The right-wing front-runners also have expressed interest in doing business with Israel, which has no diplomatic relations with Bolivia, and called for foreign private companies to invest in the country and develop its rich natural resources. After storming to office in 2006 at the start of the commodities boom, Morales, Bolivia's first Indigenous president, nationalized the nation's oil and gas industry, using the lush profits to reduce poverty, expand infrastructure and improve the lives of the rural poor. After three consecutive presidential terms, as well as a contentious bid for an unprecedented fourth in 2019 that set off popular unrest and led to his ouster, Morales has been barred from this race by Bolivia's constitutional court. His ally-turned-rival, President Luis Arce, withdrew his candidacy for the MAS on account of his plummeting popularity and nominated his senior minister, Eduardo del Castillo. As the party splintered, Andrónico Rodríguez, the 36-year-old president of the senate who hails from the same union of coca farmers as Morales, launched his bid. Ex-president Morales urges supports to deface ballots Rather than back the candidate widely considered his heir, Morales, holed up in his tropical stronghold and evading an arrest warrant on charges related to his relationship with a 15-year-old girl, has urged his supporters to deface their ballots or leave them blank. Voting is mandatory in Bolivia, where some 7.9 million Bolivians are eligible to vote. Doria Medina and Quiroga, familiar faces in Bolivian politics who both served in past neoliberal governments and have run for president three times before, have struggled to stir up interest as voter angst runs high. 'There's enthusiasm for change but no enthusiasm for the candidates,' said Eddy Abasto, 44, a Tupperware vendor in Bolivia's capital of La Paz torn between voting for Doria Medina and Quiroga. 'It's always the same, those in power live happily spending the country's money, and we suffer.' Conservative candidates say austerity needed Doria Medina and Quiroga have warned of the need for a painful fiscal adjustment, including the elimination of Bolivia's generous food and fuel subsidies, to save the nation from insolvency. Some analysts caution this risks sparking social unrest. 'A victory for either right-wing candidate could have grave repercussions for Bolivia's Indigenous and impoverished communities,' said Kathryn Ledebur, director of the Andean Information Network, a Bolivian research group. 'Both candidates could bolster security forces and right-wing para-state groups, paving the way for violent crackdowns on protests expected to erupt over the foreign exploitation of lithium and drastic austerity measures.' All 130 seats in Bolivia's Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Parliament, are up for grabs, along with 36 in the Senate, the upper house. If, as is widely expected, no one receives more than 50% of the vote, or 40% of the vote with a lead of 10 percentage points, the top two candidates will compete in a runoff on Oct. 19 for the first time since Bolivia's 1982 return to democracy.
Associated Press
2 days ago
- Business
- Associated Press
Bolivia heads to the polls as its right-wing opposition eyes first victory in decades
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivians headed to the polls on Sunday to vote in presidential and congressional elections that could spell the end of the Andean nation's long-dominant leftist party and see a right-wing government elected for the first time in over two decades. The election on Sunday is one of the most consequential for Bolivia in recent times — and one of the most unpredictable. Even at this late stage, a remarkable 30% or so of voters remain undecided. Polls show the two leading right-wing candidates, multimillionaire business owner Samuel Doria Medina and former President Jorge Fernando 'Tuto' Quiroga, locked in a virtual dead heat. Many undecided voters But a right-wing victory isn't assured. Many longtime voters for the governing Movement Toward Socialism, or MAS, party, now shattered by infighting, live in rural areas and tend to be undercounted in polling. With the nation's worst economic crisis in four decades leaving Bolivians waiting for hours in fuel lines, struggling to find subsidized bread and squeezed by double-digit inflation, the opposition candidates are billing the race as a chance to alter the country's destiny. 'I have rarely, if ever, seen a situational tinderbox with as many sparks ready to ignite,' Daniel Lansberg-Rodriguez, founding partner of Aurora Macro Strategies, a New York-based advisory firm, writes in a memo. Breaking the MAS party's monopoly on political power, he adds, pushes 'the country into uncharted political waters amid rising polarization, severe economic fragility and a widening rural–urban divide.' Bolivia could follow rightward trend The outcome will determine whether Bolivia — a nation of about 12 million people with the largest lithium reserves on Earth and crucial deposits of rare earth minerals — follows a growing trend in Latin America, where right-wing leaders like Argentina's libertarian Javier Milei, Ecuador's strongman Daniel Noboa and El Salvador's conservative populist Nayib Bukele have surged in popularity. A right-wing government in Bolivia could trigger a major geopolitical realignment for a country now allied with Venezuela's socialist-inspired government and world powers such as China, Russia and Iran. Conservative candidates vow to restore US relations Doria Medina and Quiroga have praised the Trump administration and vowed to restore ties with the United States — ruptured in 2008 when charismatic, long-serving former President Evo Morales expelled the American ambassador. The right-wing front-runners also have expressed interest in doing business with Israel, which has no diplomatic relations with Bolivia, and called for foreign private companies to invest in the country and develop its rich natural resources. After storming to office in 2006 at the start of the commodities boom, Morales, Bolivia's first Indigenous president, nationalized the nation's oil and gas industry, using the lush profits to reduce poverty, expand infrastructure and improve the lives of the rural poor. After three consecutive presidential terms, as well as a contentious bid for an unprecedented fourth in 2019 that set off popular unrest and led to his ouster, Morales has been barred from this race by Bolivia's constitutional court. His ally-turned-rival, President Luis Arce, withdrew his candidacy for the MAS on account of his plummeting popularity and nominated his senior minister, Eduardo del Castillo. As the party splintered, Andrónico Rodríguez, the 36-year-old president of the senate who hails from the same union of coca farmers as Morales, launched his bid. Ex-president Morales urges supports to deface ballots Rather than back the candidate widely considered his heir, Morales, holed up in his tropical stronghold and evading an arrest warrant on charges related to his relationship with a 15-year-old girl, has urged his supporters to deface their ballots or leave them blank. Voting is mandatory in Bolivia, where some 7.9 million Bolivians are eligible to vote. Doria Medina and Quiroga, familiar faces in Bolivian politics who both served in past neoliberal governments and have run for president three times before, have struggled to stir up interest as voter angst runs high. 'There's enthusiasm for change but no enthusiasm for the candidates,' said Eddy Abasto, 44, a Tupperware vendor in Bolivia's capital of La Paz torn between voting for Doria Medina and Quiroga. 'It's always the same, those in power live happily spending the country's money, and we suffer.' Conservative candidates say austerity needed Doria Medina and Quiroga have warned of the need for a painful fiscal adjustment, including the elimination of Bolivia's generous food and fuel subsidies, to save the nation from insolvency. Some analysts caution this risks sparking social unrest. 'A victory for either right-wing candidate could have grave repercussions for Bolivia's Indigenous and impoverished communities,' said Kathryn Ledebur, director of the Andean Information Network, a Bolivian research group. 'Both candidates could bolster security forces and right-wing para-state groups, paving the way for violent crackdowns on protests expected to erupt over the foreign exploitation of lithium and drastic austerity measures.' All 130 seats in Bolivia's Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Parliament, are up for grabs, along with 36 in the Senate, the upper house. If, as is widely expected, no one receives more than 50% of the vote, or 40% of the vote with a lead of 10 percentage points, the top two candidates will compete in a runoff on Oct. 19 for the first time since Bolivia's 1982 return to democracy.
