Bolivia to host runoff as presidential frontrunners end leftist dominance

Bolivia's presidential election will go to a runoff for the first time, with two rightwing candidates competing for the presidency - marking the end of the leftist Movimiento al Socialismo's (Mas) nearly 20 years of dominance.

- Tiago Rogero

The candidate with the most votes, however, turned out to be a surprise: the centre-right senator Rodrigo Paz Pereira, 57, who started the campaign with just 3% support in opinion polls.

Second was Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga, 65, a rightwing former president who briefly led Bolivia in 2001 after the ex-dictator Hugo Banzer resigned.

With just over 95% of ballots counted in the electoral court's "preliminary" tally, Paz Pereira was on 32.1% and Quiroga on 26.8%.

"I want to thank all the men and women who made this possible and gave a voice to those of us who had none, who didn't appear in the polls, who didn't exist," said Paz Pereira, the son of Jaime Paz Zamora, who governed Bolivia from 1989 to 1993.

Paz Pereira, the senator for Tarija, gave effusive thanks to his running mate, the former police captain Edman Lara Montaño, who became known for exposing police corruption and who, according to many analysts, was a decisive draw for voters.

Quiroga said: "It is a historic night - not for one party, not for one faction, not for one candidacy, but for all Bolivians who have spoken with strength, with faith, with hope and with dignity."