Rodrigo Paz Pereira wins Bolivia’s presidential runoff marking a new shift to the right

Sunday’s election marked the first time since 2005 that no candidate from Evo Morales’ Mas party was on the ballot

Centre-right senator Rodrigo Paz Pereira, 58, won Bolivia’s presidential runoff on Sunday and will be the country’s next president, marking a shift to the right after nearly 20 years of dominance by the leftist Movimiento al Socialismo (Mas) party.

With just over 97% of ballots counted in the electoral court’s “preliminary” tally, Paz Pereira secured 54.6% of the vote, while rightwing former president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga received 45.4%.