Bolivia's left in danger of being wiped out after 20 years in power

One of Latin America's longstanding leftwing governments is on the brink of collapse as a huge swing to the right is predicted in today's presidential election

- Thomas Graham

The Casa Grande del Pueblo - the Great House of the People - towers over the old presidential palace in La Paz, Bolivia's political capital.

Decorated with Indigenous icons, the colossal glass structure was built in 2018 as a triumphant symbol of the country's reinvention and shining future under the ruling Movimiento al Socialismo (Mas) party.

But just a year later, the Mas project began to crack. And now it is on the brink of total collapse.

Today Bolivia faces its most open election in 20 years. Not only does the country seem set to swing to the right but Mas, one of the continent's most successful leftwing parties, may disappear entirely.

"The right is ascendant," said Carlos Arze Vargas of Cedla, a think-tank. "There's a quite conservative and even retrograde atmosphere."

Some parts of the right, he added, "are not just talking about cuts - they're talking about removing rights."

Polls, while not reliable, point towards an October runoff between Samuel Doria Medina, 66, a centre-right tycoon, and Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga, 65, a rightwing former president, who each have about 20% to 25% of voting intention in a field of eight candidates. It is the fourth presidential run for both.