Bolivian Senator Rodrigo Paz Pereira of the centrist Christian Democratic Party won a surprise victory in Sunday’s presidential elections and will go to a runoff election against conservative former President Jorge Quiroga on October 19.
Sunday’s general election saw a resounding defeat of the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS), marking the end of its 20-year rule. In addition to losing the presidency, preliminary results published by local outlets at press time indicate that, with eight Congressional seats and five Senate seats yet to be defined, MAS lost all but one of its 75-seat majority at the Chamber of Deputies and has not secured a single seat in the Senate.
The results effectively wipe out the monolithic rule of the socialist party, now fractured by a years-long power struggle between outgoing socialist President Luis Arce and his former mentor and predecessor, socialist former President Evo Morales.
Although polls suggested that center-right businessman Samuel Doria Medina and conservative former President Jorge Quiroga were the two candidates poised to head into a runoff election, the electoral event culminated with a surprise victory for Senator Rodrigo Paz Pereira.
Preliminary results published by Bolivia’s Plurinational Electoral Organ at press time indicate that Paz Pereira obtained 32.14 percent of the votes, followed by former President Quiroga, who obtained 26.81 percent. Doria Media, who polls suggested would win, came in third place instead 19.86 percent. MAS’ candidate, former Minister Eduardo del Castillo, only obtained 3.16 percent of the votes.
Paz Pereira, a 57-year-old economist born in exile in Spain, is the son of former President Jaime Paz Zamora. Paz Pereira is presently serving as senator for the Tarija department since 2020 and previously served as mayor of the department’s eponymous capital city between 2015 and 2020.
The senator thanked his followers on Sunday night after news of his surprise victory first broke, stressing, “It turns out that there is a Bolivia that is not taken into account and is now present.”
“We haven’t won anything yet. We have the right to play in a final that we have to win in two months’ time. I have a saying: nothing is won until it’s won, until victory is sealed,” Paz Pereira reportedly said.
“What we want is to rebuild reconciliation in the country, production in the country, we want to regain productive strength, we need to stabilize and generate governance, and bring about change in the economy so that it belongs to the people and not the state,” he added at another point of his speech.
Former President Quiroga also addressed his followers and proclaimed that “a long night of two decades has ended” following the resounding defeat of MAS. Quiroga congratulated Paz Pereira for his victory and stated that, if elected, his administration’s main challenge will be to stabilize the Bolivian economy and solve the severe shortages and inflation that presently plague the country.
Businessman Samuel Doria Medina, who came in third place, acknowledged his defeat and pledged his support to Sen. Paz Pereira in the runoff election, upholding a promise he reportedly issued to support whoever came in first place should he not make it to the runoff. Doria Media stressed that Sunday’s results “mean that MAS’ cycle is over.”
Outgoing President Luis Arce, who chose not to run for reelection, saluted the Bolivian electorate on social media for exercising its civic duty, asserting that his government made every effort to ensure a peaceful and transparent electoral process “despite constant internal and external attacks aimed at sabotaging it.”
“Now, the Bolivian people have the final say. We are confident that in the second round, our population will once again reaffirm that Bolivians resolve our problems peacefully, demonstrating once again the democratic spirit that has always characterized us,” Arce’s message read. “Democracy has prevailed! Long live Bolivia on its bicentennial! Long live our democracy!”
Former President Evo Morales, a term-limited wannabe dictator and a fugitive from the law on pedophilia allegations, had called on his supporters to boycott Sunday’s election by casting blank or incorrectly filed “null” votes. On Friday, Bolivian electoral courts explained that, in accordance with the country’s electoral law, improperly cast votes would have no bearing on the legitimacy of the election or affect the validity of standard ballots. The boycott campaign resulted in 19.38 of the votes declared null according to preliminary results.
“We express our deep respect and admiration for our fellow activists in our political organization who, in less than two weeks of campaigning for null votes, achieved a historic result,” Morales wrote in a Monday morning social media post. “Our protest was heard: we voted, but we did not choose, and the people made it clear that democracy cannot be reduced to a mere administrative formality.”
“Likewise, the people sent an unequivocal message to those who became corrupt in the exercise of politics and betrayed the most humble. Bolivia does not want privatization or persecution with a corrupt justice system; Bolivia demands economic recovery, stability, growth, and more democracy,” he concluded.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here
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