Two decades of leftwing dominance end in Bolivia as rightwingers head to election runoff

Movimiento al Socialismo’s time runs out as economic crisis grips country

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 nearly 20 years of dominance by the leftist Movimiento al Socialismo (Mas).

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