Bolivia’s Christian Democratic Party presidential candidate Rodrigo Paz Pereira celebrates with supporters in La Paz, Bolivia, on Friday after securing 32% of votes to qualify for Sunday’s runoff election against former President Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga. Photo by Luis Gandarillas/EPA
Oct. 18 (UPI) — Bolivia’s presidential runoff election on Sunday is the nation’s first and excludes a socialist candidate after voters narrowed the field to two conservative candidates on Friday.
Christian Democratic Party candidate Sen. Rodrigo Paz Pereira secured 32% of the popular vote to lead all candidates, while former President Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga secured the second-most with 27% of votes to set up Sunday’s runoff, according to Americas Quarterly.
Paz is a centrist candidate and the son of former Bolivian President Jaime Paz Zamora, who led the nation from 1989 to 1993.
Quiroga, 67, was serving as Bolivia’s vice president when he ascended to the presidency for one year, from Aug. 7, 2001, to Aug. 6, 2002, following the resignation of President Hugo Banzer due to a cancer diagnosis.
He was elected vice president in 1997 at age 37, which made him the nation’s youngest person to hold that office.
Quiroga was defeated in three prior campaigns to be elected president, but many now view him as the favorite.
His platform includes establishing a free market economic system rooted in capitalism and that supports private property rights for citizens.
He also wants to transfer government ownership of the nation’s ample natural resources, especially natural gas, iron and lithium, to private citizens and entities.
Paz, 58, also wants to establish a market-based economy and made “Capitalism for All” his campaign’s motto.
The lack of a socialist candidate in the presidential runoff is viewed as a public rebuke of the Movimiento al Socialismo (Movement Towards Socialism) Party, which has controlled Bolivia’s politics over the past two decades.
Bolivia has been one of South America’s leading socialist states over the past 20 years, but the nation is mired in an economic collapse that many attribute to government mismanagement of natural resources, according to The Telegraph.
MAS presidential candidate Eduardo del Castillo received only 3% of the vote during the first round of voting.
The MAS party also is about to lose its majorities in both houses of the Bolivian Legislature amid recent controversies.
They include an arrest warrant for former MAS Party member and former President Evo Morales being issued due to an alleged statutory rape.