Twenty years of socialism likely to end as Bolivians head to polls

Bolivians went to the polls yesterday in an election that could mark a shift to the right – and the end of nearly 20 years of rule by the leftist Movimiento al Socialismo (Mas).

- Tiago Rogero

The party, which came to power under Evo Morales in 2005, risks losing its legal status if it fails to reach 3% of the vote – a threshold it has not hit in polls.

Two opposition candidates have been virtually tied: the centre-right tycoon and former planning minister Samuel Doria Medina, followed closely by the rightwing former president Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga.

Deeply unpopular amid the country's worst economic crisis in four decades, the incumbent president, Luis Arce, decided not to run. A former finance minister under Morales, who was in power for 14 years until 2019, Arce took control of Mas in recent years. He has nominated his minister of government, Eduardo del Castillo, who has been polling at about 2%, to run for president.

Morales, 65, who is wanted for allegedly fathering a child with a 15-year-old girl, has been hiding out deep in the jungle since last year.