According to the nation’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), Paz had won 54.5 percent of the vote in the run-off race on Sunday, far ahead of the country’s right-wing interim president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga, who received 45.4% of the vote.
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Paz, 58, entered politics after his father, former president of the left, Jaime Zamora.
After earning his economics degree in the United States, Paz moved back to Bolivia and became the mayor and city councillor of Tarija, before becoming the region’s senator in 2020.
He has promised to use a “capitalism for all” strategy, as well as decentralizing the national government and promoting tax cuts and tariff reductions.
Edmand Lara, Paz’s vice-presidential running mate, pleaded for “unity and reconciliation” after the results were released.
“We must ensure the availability of diesel and gasoline. People are experiencing pain. According to Lara, we need to stabilise the prices of the basic food basket and end corruption.
After former left-wing president Evo Morales was barred from running in August’s preliminary election and retiring president Luis Arce, who had fought with Morales, decided to withdraw from the race, the incumbent MAS party suffered a significant defeat on Sunday.
Due to term limits and party affiliation-related technicalities, courts had previously rejected Morales’ candidacy.
Few expected MAS to win back control of their left-wing coalition, which coincided with the country’s severe economic crisis.
Morales, who is still a popular figure among indigenous Bolivians, will continue to face stiff opposition from the new president even if the National Congress dissolves.
Morales told reporters that the two candidates only “represented a small number of people in Bolivia” on Sunday.
He claimed that they don’t represent the Indigenous movement or the popular movement at all.
After serving just one term as president beginning in 2020, Arce is scheduled to step down on November 8. He did not seek re-election, but Bolivia’s constitution allows for two terms.
economic issues
The Andean nation has been dealing with a severe economic crisis, which has resulted in nearly 25% annual inflation and severe US dollar and fuel shortages.
In the run-up to the August 17 general election, Bolivians took to the streets to protest high prices and hours-long waits for essential items like food.
Under Morales, who nationalized the gas industry and invested the money in social initiatives that halved extreme poverty during his time in power between 2006 and 2019, Bolivia had experienced more than a decade of robust growth and Indigenous empowerment.
However, after Morales, who was outspoken about climate change and environmental issues, decided not to grow the nation’s gas industry, energy revenues dropped from a peak of $ 6.1 billion in 2013 to $1.6 billion in 2024, leaving the government without the foreign exchange needed to import wheat, wheat, and other foods.
Source: Aljazeera
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