In power in Bolivia almost uninterrupted since 2006 (the only exception was the interim term of a year of Jeanine Añez, between 2019 and 2020), the Movement to Socialism (but) a great risk of losing political hegemony in the Andean country in this Sunday’s presidential election (17).
Most of the surveys have indicated that two opposition candidates, businessman Samuel Doria Medina and former President Jorge Quiroga (2001-2002), should be the most voted and star in a second round on October 19.
In recent years, MA has been the scene of a fratricidal war, with current president Luis Arce, disputing with his former political paradise, former Mandanker Evo Morales (2006-2019), who would be the acronym candidate in 2025.
Judicial quarrels, charges of betrayal, and even assassination attempted, clashes between supporters, major protests, and a to date poorly explained military mobilization in June 2024 (which the “Evista” wing of MAS and the Bolivian right said it was an Autce AutoGolpe) turned the two allies into enemies.
Finally, neither will be the candidate of MAS this Sunday. Morales was prevented from running for a decision of Bolivia’s Constitutional Court, which determined that the limit of presidential terms in the country is two periods, and Arce, badly in the polls, announced in May that he would not try to reelection.
Eduardo Del Castillo, former Management Minister Arce, will be the candidate of MAS, but has appeared in the polls in the 2% of voting intentions.
The opposition also reaches the ballot box: at the end of 2024, Quiroga and Medina (who will try for the fourth time to become president: he was defeated in the 2005, 2009 and 2014 elections) joined other names so that but had a unique candidacy in 2025, but divergences made them compete against each other.
In an article for Americas Quarterly magazine, Raúl Peñaranda U., Bolivian journalist and director of the Brújula Digital News Portal, said the news of a election with two right -wing candidates leading polls in Bolivia reflects the crisis generated by the government of MAS.
“The reason, according to the surveys, is that economic concerns now surpass policies for most Bolivians amid a crisis marked by dollars and fuel and growing inflation. In the highly polarized environment of the country, protests occur almost daily, and highway blocks are aggravating scarcity,” wrote Peñaranda.
“No matter who wins, the next president will have to implement painful reforms,” he warned.
