Bolivian right eyes return in polls

BOLIVIANS headed to the polls yesterday for elections marked by a deep economic crisis that has seen the left implode and the right eyeing its first shot at power in 20 years.

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The Andean country is struggling through its worst crisis in a generation, marked by annual inflation of almost 25% and critical shortages of dollars and fuel.

Polls show voters poised to punish the ruling Movement towards Socialism (MAS), in power since 2005 when Evo Morales was elected Bolivia's first Indigenous president.

Centre-right business tycoon Samuel Doria Medina and right-wing ex-president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga are the favourites to succeed Morales’s unpopular successor, Luis Arce, who is not seeking reelection.

Polls showed Doria Medina, 66, and Quiroga, 65, neck-and-neck on around 20%, with six other candidates, including left-wing Senate president Andronico Rodriguez, trailing far behind.

A runoff will take place on October 19 if no candidate wins an outright majority.

The two front-runners have vowed radical changes to Bolivia's big-state economic model if elected.