LA PAZ – Bolivians on Sunday elected a pro-business center-right senator as their new president, ending two decades of socialist rule that have left the South American nation deep in economic crisis.
With 97.8 percent of ballots counted, Rodrigo Paz had 54.6 percent of the vote to 45.4 percent for his rival, right-wing former interim president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal said.
The news was greeted with joy, music and fireworks on the streets of La Paz.
“We came to celebrate the victory with great hope of a new direction for Bolivia,” reveler Julio Andrey, a 40-year-old lawyer, told AFP.
Paz, the 58-year-old son of a former president, has vowed a “capitalism for all” approach to economic reform, with decentralization, lower taxes and fiscal discipline mixed with continued social spending.
He takes over a country that under ex-president Evo Morales took a sharp turn to the left: nationalizing energy resources, breaking ties with Washington and making alliances with China, Russia and fellow leftists in Cuba, Venezuela and elsewhere in Latin America.
After the results were announced, Paz’s vice-presidential running mate, Edmand Lara, made a call for “unity and reconciliation” after a bitter campaign.
While Bolivia is enduring its worst economic crisis in decades, he promised improvements are on the horizon.
“We must ensure the supply of diesel and gasoline. People are suffering. We need to stabilize the prices of the basic food basket, and we must put an end to corruption,” he said.
