{"id":513078,"date":"2025-10-20T00:04:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T00:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/513078\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T00:04:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T00:04:16","slug":"bolivia-votes-in-run-off-to-end-nearly-20-years-of-socialist-government-politics-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/513078\/","title":{"rendered":"Bolivia votes in run-off to end nearly 20 years of socialist government | Politics News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Polls have closed in Bolivia in a presidential election run-off<\/a> between two pro-market candidates, marking the end of nearly two decades of socialist rule and the start of a likely realignment towards the United States.<\/p>\n

Voting stations opened at 8am local time (12:00 GMT) and closed at 4pm (20:00 GMT) on Sunday. Initial results will emerge in a few hours\u2019 time, with the official decision expected by Thursday.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

The vote pitted conservative former interim President Jorge \u201cTuto\u201d Quiroga, 65, against a centrist senator and economist, Rodrigo Paz, the 58-year-old son of former left-wing President Jaime Zamora.<\/p>\n

Polls showed a tight race, with Quiroga holding a narrow lead.<\/p>\n

Both men have promised to overhaul Bolivia\u2019s crisis-hit economy and restore the relationship with the US after years of tense, often hostile, ties under the left-wing governments of Evo Morales and his successor, outgoing President Luis Arce.<\/p>\n

\"FORPresidential candidate Rodrigo Paz waves during a campaign rally in Tarija, Bolivia [Juan Karita\/AP Photo]<\/p>\n

The governing Movement Towards Socialism party (MAS), racked by division, failed to advance a candidate to the run-off election, meaning its leadership is slated to come to an end. Support for MAS, which has dominated Bolivian politics since Morales first took power in 2006, all but collapsed in the first round of voting in August.<\/p>\n

The vote comes as the nation<\/a> of 11 million faces its most serious economic crisis in decades.<\/p>\n

Al Jazeera\u2019s Alessandro Rampietti, reporting from La Paz, said that many expect these elections to \u201cbring the start of a new political cycle in Bolivia\u201d, amid a \u201cvery severe economic crisis that they\u2019ve been dealing with for a number of years now\u201d. He said that the oil sector \u201chas fallen by 60 percent\u201d, natural gas output \u201chas fallen 46 percent\u201d, and inflation has surged above 20 percent.<\/p>\n

At a polling station in central La Paz, Rampietti said that electoral officials were \u201cjust about to begin opening the boxes, starting to tally the votes\u201d, with results expected within the hour. He added that \u201cwe should have a possibly clear idea of who will win in roughly four hours\u2019 time\u201d, while official results are likely to be confirmed on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Rampietti noted that the incoming president will face significant challenges, including the need \u201cto attract US dollars and import fuel to ease the shortages in the country\u201d.<\/p>\n

He also warned that political change in the country often sparks conflict, reporting that unions \u201cwill be ready to protest against the attempts of the new government to put in place reforms\u201d.<\/p>\n

Rampietti noted that the elections carry broader implications: Bolivia may \u201crestore relationships with the US and move away from the countries that have been allies \u2026 from Iran, Venezuela, Cuba\u201d, while its vast lithium reserves add to the stakes.<\/p>\n

\u2018Situation is terrible\u2019<\/p>\n

Once South America\u2019s fastest-growing economy, Bolivia has nearly depleted its foreign currency reserves after years of heavy subsidies and underinvestment in its gas industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe situation is terrible. We don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen. Everything is very expensive,\u201d Felicidad Flores, a 67-year-old street vendor in La Paz, told the AFP news agency. \u201cI hope it doesn\u2019t go up more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Driver Javier Quispe, 40, sitting in his truck in a kilometre-long fuel queue in the city, told the agency that Bolivians were \u201cworse off than before. There isn\u2019t much hope that things will change.\u201d<\/p>\n

For many, the run-off signals a return to the market-friendly policies of the 1990s, an era that brought both an economic opening and deep inequality.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis election marks a political turning point,\u201d Glaeldys Gonzalez Calanche, an analyst for the International Crisis Group, told the Reuters news agency. Regardless of who wins, \u201cBolivia is heading in a new direction\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n

Analyst Daniela Osorio of the German Institute for Global and Area Studies told AFP that Bolivians\u2019 patience was \u201crunning out\u201d.<\/p>\n

Once the election is over, she warned, \u201cif the winner does not take measures to help the most vulnerable, this could lead to a social uprising\u201d.<\/p>\n

Contrasting visions<\/p>\n

Both candidates have outlined different versions of reform.<\/p>\n

Quiroga, who governed briefly from 2001 to 2002, has promised \u201cradical change\u201d, proposing opening the economy to international investment and foreign loans, and deep cuts to public spending and the closure or privatisation of loss-making state firms.<\/p>\n

Paz advocates a slower path of \u201ccapitalism for all\u201d, combining fiscal discipline and decentralisation with continued support for social programmes.<\/p>\n

Each has proposed curbing the country\u2019s universal fuel subsidy, keeping it only for public transport, to ease the strain on public finances.<\/p>\n

\"SupportersSupporters of Paz attend his closing campaign rally in Tarija, Bolivia, October 15, 2025 [Juan Karita\/AP Photo]Morales remains a player<\/p>\n

Both candidates have courted the US for support.<\/p>\n

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week that the vote represented \u201ca transformative opportunity\u201d for bilateral ties, with both candidates seeking \u201cstronger, better relations with the United States\u201d after decades of anti-US leadership.<\/p>\n

Yet, with neither candidate likely to secure a majority in Congress and former leader Morales still commanding loyal grassroots support, governing may prove difficult.<\/p>\n

Morales remains a political player despite being the target of an arrest warrant for human trafficking over an alleged sexual relationship with a minor, an accusation he denies. He was constitutionally barred from seeking another term, but has called on his followers to boycott the vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven weakened, Morales remains a factor of potential destabilisation,\u201d said Osorio.<\/p>\n

Nearly eight million Bolivians are eligible to vote, and participation is mandatory. The winner will take office on November 8.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Polls have closed in Bolivia in a presidential election run-off between two pro-market candidates, marking the end of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":513079,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3090],"tags":[36058,51,12633,1700,33,3274,12,285,72127,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-513078","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-bolivia","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-business-and-economy","11":"tag-economy","12":"tag-elections","13":"tag-latin-america","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-politics","16":"tag-poverty-and-development","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115403572874365530","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}