Historic defeat of the MAS in Bolivia: Ganó Paz Pereira and won a ball with «Tuto» Quiroga - Worldwide Elections

After 20 years of government of the Movimiento Al Socialismo (MAS), Bolivia will have a historical change and turn towards the right. It will hold power and the balance will define the unexpected Rodrigo Paz Pereira (57), and former liberal president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga (65).

The senator and son of former president Jaime Paz Zamora (1989-1993), was represented by the Partido Demócrata Cristiano (PDC) and resulted in a cover because he appeared with 8.3% in the last polls and was the most voted with 32.13%, with 91.96% of the minutes scrutinized.

Those of the models who strongly oppose the government will be leading the first round of battles since the new Constitution of 2009, on October 19th.

Like this, senator Rodrigo Paz Pereira and former president Jorge «Tuto» Quiroga will compete for the presidency of Bolivia in the second round. Both were among the candidates with the most votes in this Sunday's presidential elections, marked by a deep economic crisis in the country, the division of the opposition and the rupture within the community and the MAS, which will lose power for decades after Evo Morales' first electoral victory in 2005.

Rodrigo Paz (Partido Demócrata Cristiano) obtained more than 1,561,000 votes -32,08%- and Quiroga (Alianza Libre) surpassed 1,311,000 -26,94-, according to the preliminary results issued by the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) with more than 90% of votes counted.

Behind came the businessman Samuel Doria Medina -who according to the polls left as favorite- with 19,93% and the main aspirant of the izquierda Andrónico Rodríguez, with 8,15%.

The governing party Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) suffered a historic debacle to come in sixth place with 3,14% of votes.

Participation was 78,55% over a pattern of 7.5 million qualified citizens, according to the TSE.

Paz, who presents himself as a figure of center political renewal, and Quiroga, more aligned with the conservative right, will face each other on October 19th in the second round.

This marks a precedent that, since the balloon system was established in 2009 in Bolivia, all elections have been decided in the first vote.

The Bolivian Constitution establishes that a candidate can win the presidency in the first round if he obtains more than 50% of valid votes, or at least 40% with a difference of ten percentage points over the second.

The advancement of the Peace and Quiroga project also anticipates a historic change in Bolivian politics, as citizens will elect a president who will not be left behind after decades governed by the MAS.

The result confirms the fracture and decline of the political strength founded by Evo Morales, which left the conflict divided and with much lower electoral support than has marked Bolivian politics over the last 20 years.

Economic crisis and political fragmentation

The election serves as a background screen for the worst economic crisis of the last 40 years.

Bolivia faces interannual inflation close to 25%, fuel shortages, loss of Bolivian value in the parallel market and difficulties in accessing dollars.

Analysts attribute the fragmentation of the vote to the social malaise linked to the crisis, which explains why no candidate surpassed the 33% in the first round.

Another of the determining factors was the fracture of the Socialist Movement, which led to these elections.

President Luis Arce retired from the race in May and gave his support to his former government minister, Eduardo del Castillo, who presented himself with the MAS–IPSP acronym with results much lower than expected.

Andrónico Rodríguez, president of the Senate and emerging figure in the left field, tried to present himself as an alternative to his own alliance, but failed to capitalize on the MAS vote.

Former president Evo Morales, disqualified by the courts from appearing at the elections, denounced the «proscription» of his electoral participation and promoted the null vote, which left only a few more pieces of paper left behind.

Null votes amounted to 1,165,000, at 18.9%, well above the average of past rallies that were around 3.7%.

However, while considering this date and the call of Morales, the preliminary results indicate that she is still willing to run for the presidency.

Therefore, the second round will face opposing projects that coincide in their rejection of the MAS, but differ in their approaches.

On October 19th, in any case, we will face the challenge of inaugurating a new political cycle in a context marked by one of the worst economic crises of recent decades in the South American country.