Supporters of presidential candidate Rodrigo Paz celebrate preliminary results showing hime leading in the presidential runoff election in La Paz, Bolivia, Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. IVAN VALENCIA / AP
Bolivians on Sunday, October 19, elected a pro-business center-right senator as their new president, ending two decades of socialist rule that have left the South American nation deep in economic crisis. With 97% of ballots counted, Rodrigo Paz had 54.5% of the vote compared to 45.4% for his rival, right-wing former interim president Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) said.
The news was greeted with joy, music and fireworks on the streets of La Paz. "We came to celebrate the victory with great hope of a new direction for Bolivia," reveler Julio Andrey, a 40-year-old lawyer, told AFP.
Paz, the 58-year-old son of a former president, has vowed a "capitalism for all" approach to economic reform, with decentralization, lower taxes and fiscal discipline mixed with continued social spending. He takes over a country that under ex-president Evo Morales took a sharp turn to the left: nationalizing energy resources, breaking ties with Washington and making alliances with China, Russia and fellow leftists in Cuba, Venezuela and elsewhere in Latin America.
