Bolivians were made to participate but not decide
Paz secured victory with 3.36M votes vs Quiroga's 2.79M in a historic second round, with 85-89% voter participation despite fuel shortages affecting some citizens. PDC controls 39% of legislative seats, giving Paz governing advantage over Quiroga's 30%, while MAS collapsed to just 10 seats after two decades in power.
- Rodrigo Paz won with 54.61% (3.36M votes) vs Quiroga's 44.43% (2.79M votes)
- Bolivia's first-ever presidential runoff, held October 19, 2025
- PDC controls 39% of legislature; MAS collapsed to 10 of 166 seats
- Voter participation reached 85-89% despite severe fuel shortages
- Paz assumes office November 8, ending 20 years of MAS rule
Rodrigo Paz Pereira of the Christian Democratic Party won Bolivia's first-ever presidential runoff with 54.61% of votes, ending 20 years of MAS dominance. He will assume office November 8 facing economic crisis and legislative negotiations.
Bolivia held its first-ever presidential runoff on October 19, 2025, and Rodrigo Paz Pereira emerged victorious, securing 54.61 percent of the vote and ending two decades of dominance by the Movimiento al Socialismo. Paz, the 58-year-old candidate of the Christian Democratic Party, defeated Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga of the right-wing Alianza Libre coalition, who received 44.43 percent. The electoral tribunal declared the results irreversible, with Paz capturing 3.36 million votes to Quiroga's 2.79 million. He will assume the presidency on November 8, succeeding Luis Arce.
The runoff itself was historic—Bolivia's constitution introduced the mechanism for a second round in 2009, but this was the first time it was ever invoked. Voter participation reached between 85 and 89 percent, a remarkable turnout in a country where voting is mandatory and citizens who fail to cast ballots face fines and banking restrictions for three months afterward. Yet the fuel crisis gripping Bolivia meant some citizens could not reach polling stations; one truck driver told the Associated Press he chose to wait in line for diesel rather than travel to vote, accepting the penalty rather than risk running out of fuel.
Paz comes from a storied political family—his father, Jaime Paz Zamora, served as president from 1989 to 1993. Born in exile in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, during his childhood Paz lived in roughly ten countries, an experience he has said shaped his sensitivity toward the marginalized. He studied economics and international relations, earned a master's degree in political management from American University in Washington, and built a career as a city councilman, deputy, mayor of Tarija, and senator. He presents himself as a centrist pragmatist, campaigning on a platform of "capitalism for all" and promising fiscal stability without cutting essential services like health, education, and social security. In the first round on August 17, he captured 32 percent of the vote, particularly in departments like La Paz and El Alto, where he peeled away support from the MAS.
Quiroga, 65, is a former president who served from 2001 to 2002 and represents the conservative wing of Bolivian politics. An engineer trained in the United States who worked for IBM, he has championed economic liberalism and austerity measures. Born in Cochabamba, he rose through politics during Jaime Paz Zamora's administration and consolidated power through his alliance with former dictator Hugo Banzer Suárez—a connection that haunts his image among voters seeking fresh faces. He took 27 percent in the first round and positioned himself as the candidate of shock therapy and hard economic adjustment.
The legislative landscape gives Paz a significant advantage. His Christian Democratic Party controls 39 percent of the 166 seats in the National Assembly, enough to function as a kingmaker for legislation. Quiroga's coalition holds only 30 percent, forcing him into a subordinate negotiating position. Most striking is the collapse of the MAS, which won just ten seats after two decades in power. Former president Evo Morales, who is in hiding in the Chapare region to evade an arrest warrant for alleged sexual abuse of a minor, voted on election day despite calling the process a "manipulated farce." He acknowledged the results, saying they must be respected, though he characterized the election as one where Bolivians were made to participate but not decide.
The outgoing president, Luis Arce, congratulated Paz and pledged an orderly institutional transition—a significant moment, as it marks the first time in 28 years that power will pass from one elected government to another elected government. Quiroga also conceded gracefully, calling Paz to offer his congratulations and pledging to remain active in public life and democratic defense, though he noted he had no systematic evidence of fraud to present despite some supporters' claims of irregularities.
Paz faces formidable challenges. Bolivia is in the grip of an economic crisis, with severe fuel shortages affecting daily life and commerce. The country is divided between rural voters, who lean toward Paz, and urban voters, who represent 70 percent of the population and whose preferences are more mixed. Paz has promised to recover relationships with neighboring countries and the United States, framing his approach as one grounded in trade and economic benefit rather than ideology. He will need to build coalitions in the legislature to pass reforms, but his legislative plurality gives him room to maneuver. The transition begins in less than three weeks, and the real test will be whether his centrist vision can stabilize an economy in free fall while holding together a fractured nation.
Citações Notáveis
Today the people give us the opportunity to govern Bolivia. It is time to unite, time to reconcile. The political colors are over.— Paz's running mate, after preliminary results were announced
We must respect the results.— Evo Morales, acknowledging the election outcome from his base in Chapare
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
What does it mean that this is Bolivia's first runoff? Why did it take so long?
The constitution allowed for it since 2009, but no election had been close enough to trigger it until now. The MAS had such dominance that they won outright every time. This runoff signals that dominance is genuinely broken.
Paz's father was president in the late eighties. Doesn't that make him part of the old guard?
On paper, yes. But Paz spent his childhood in exile, moving between countries, watching his family hunted. That's different from being groomed in a palace. He's positioning himself as someone who understands what it means to be displaced, even if his displacement was political rather than economic.
The fuel crisis kept some people from voting. How does that shape what just happened?
It's a quiet injustice embedded in the result. We don't know how many people couldn't vote, or which way they would have leaned. But it happened under the outgoing government, not Paz's. It's a problem he inherits, not one he created.
Evo Morales is hiding from a sexual abuse charge. Why is he still politically relevant?
Because the MAS is still a movement, even if it collapsed electorally. Morales shaped Bolivia for nearly two decades. You don't erase that in one election. But his party went from dominance to ten seats. That's the real story—not his relevance, but his irrelevance.
What does Paz actually have to do first?
Stop the economic bleeding. The fuel crisis is immediate and visible. Then build a coalition in congress to pass anything. He has the numbers, but only if he negotiates. He can't govern alone, even with 39 percent.
Is this a left-to-right swing, or something else?
It's a rejection of one thing, not necessarily an embrace of another. Paz isn't a right-winger. He's a centrist who promises stability. Quiroga is the right-winger, and he lost. Bolivia voted for the middle ground, not for ideology.