Centrist Senator Rodrigo Paz Pereira won Bolivia’s first presidential runoff election on Sunday, which prompted the United States and eight other nations to welcome his win on Tuesday. Photo by Luis Gandarillas/EPA
Oct. 21 (UPI) — Bolivian President-elect Rodrigo Paz Pereira’s win heralds a time of change in the South American nation that was a leading socialist state, the leaders of nine nations said on Tuesday.
Paz, 58, prevailed over challenger and former President Jorge Quiroga on Sunday in Bolivia’s first runoff election to determine its next president, and the U.S. State Department released the joint statement.
“The undersigned countries congratulate President-electRodrigo Paz Pereira on his election as president of Bolivia,” the joint statement said.
“We also commend the Bolivian people for their unwavering commitment to democracy, as demonstrated through their active participation in this electoral process.”
The statement said the “Bolivian people made their voices heard in a decisive manner.”
The outcome “reflects the will of the Bolivian people to embrace change and chart a new course for their nation and our region, signaling departure from the economic mismanagement of the past two decades.”
Paz is a centrist, while Quiroga is more conservative, and both campaigned on the platform of ending the 20-year reign of socialist presidents and government and returning Bolivia to a market-based capitalist economy.
He secured 54.6% of the 6.5 million votes cast to Quiroga’s 45.4% in the first Bolivian presidential election that did not involve a socialist candidate for the first time in two decades, according to The Guardian.
Paz was the Christian Democratic Party’s candidate, while Quiroga, 67, ran on the Free Alliance ticket. Both ran on a pro-capitalism platform.
The Movimiento al Socialismo (Movement Towards Socialism) Party candidate Eduardo del Castillo obtained 3% of the vote during an initial election and did not qualify for Sunday’s runoff election.
The MAS Party has controlled both houses of the Bolivian Legislature and the presidential office for the past 20 years.
Paz said he intends to end the nation’s gas shortages and wants to encourage international investment to boost growth of the Bolivia’s private sector, the BBC reported.
His win effectively ends the MAS Party’s rule in Bolivia.
“The undersigned countries stand ready to support the incoming administration’s efforts to stabilize Bolivia’s economy and open it to the world, reinforce its democratic institutions, boost international trade and investment, and deepen its engagement with regional and global partners on a wide range of issues,” the nine nations said in the joint statement.
“We are committed to working closely with President-elect Rodrigo Paz Pereira and his government to advance shared goals of regional and global security, economic prosperity and growth that benefit all of our nations,” they added.
“We encourage Bolivia’s renewed proactive participation in addressing regional and global challenges.”
In addition to the United States, the governments undersigning the statement are Argentina, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Panama, Paraguay, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Paz is a Bolivian senator and the son of former Bolivian President Jaime Pax Zamora, who served in that role from 1989 to 1993.