Rodrigo Paz elected Bolivia's new president, ending nearly 20 years of socialist rule

Rodrigo Paz of Bolivia's center-right Christian Democratic Party (PDC) has been elected as the country's new president, marking the end of nearly two decades of rule by the leftist Movement for Socialism (MAS) party.

According to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), with 97% of votes counted from Sunday’s runoff election, Paz secured 54.5% of the vote—well ahead of his right-wing rival, former interim president Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga, who received 45.4%.

Paz, 58, is set to take office on November 8. Nearly eight million eligible voters participated in the election, where voting is mandatory, AL Jazeera reports.

Paz's victory represents a historic shift for Bolivia, a country that has been largely governed by the MAS party since 2006. The party, once widely supported by the country’s indigenous majority, saw its grip on power weaken in recent years.

Rodrigo Paz entered politics following in the footsteps of his father, former leftist president Jaime Paz Zamora. After studying economics in the United States, he returned to Bolivia and began his political career as a city councilor and later mayor of the southern city of Tarija. In 2020, he became a senator for the region.

On the campaign trail, Paz pledged a model of "capitalism for all", along with promises to lower taxes and tariffs, and to decentralize national government authority.

SR