In crisis, Bolivia will go to the polls this Sunday for the right turn after 20 years

Bolivia: Right candidates are favorite in election on Sunday affected by a deep economic crisis, Bolivians prepare to give a radical turn on the presidential election this Sunday (17). According to the main projections, the country should elect a candidate from the right after 20 years of dominance of the movement to socialism (MAS), led by Evo Morales in power. ✅ Click here to follow the G1 international news channel on WhatsApp millionaire businessman Samuel Doria Medina, 66, and former 65-year-old President Jorge Quiroga, lead the polls among the eight candidates and are expected to play the second round on October 19. Medicine competes for the Alliance National Unit, and Quiroga, the Free Alliance, both directist parties. The two opponents of the current government promise the end of the state economic model imposed by the MAS. Former Bolivian president and opposing candidate Jorge Quiroga, during a campaign act on August 13, 2025. Pilar Olivares/ Reuters the former Opponent and Candidate for Bolivian elections Samuel Doria Medina, during campaign in La Paz, on August 12, 2025. Lithium, attend the polls in a shortage of dollars, fuels and food shortages. The accumulated inflation of the last year is close to 25%, the highest since 2008. Most of the population attribute the crisis to President Luis Arce’s unpopular government. “Our situation is really (…) on the floor. Our currency has been devalued, salaries are not enough, everything is very expensive,” AFP news agency Freddy Millán, a 53 -year -old engineer who lives in the city of Santa Cruz. For many years, Bolivia’s growth was dependent on gas exports, its main source of currency. However, since 2017 production has a constant drop. Almost eight million Bolivians are registered to attend the polls. Voting is mandatory in the country. A new stage the former president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, in file image. Reuters/Agustin Mark the left has been walking to its worst fiasco at the polls since reached the presidency at the hands of Morales, who ruled from 2006 to 2019. Then he boosted the victory of Arce, his former minister and now an opponent. The indigenous leader was prevented by the court from seeking a fourth term in these elections. Since October, she has taken refuge in a small village in downtown Bolivia to avoid a capture order for the case of alleged minors when he was president, a charge he denies. Under the protection of his followers, Morales promotes null vote. Faced with the likely triumph of his opponents, he told AFP that he “will not escape” and will go back to “battle on the streets and ways.” The dispute between Morales and Arce in recent months has imploded the MAS and deepened the economic crisis, with episodes of violence and highway blockages. The clash shook the popularity of the left. Government candidate Eduardo Del Castillo and Senator and leader ‘Cocalem’ Andronics Rodríguez, both 36, appear back in the polls. “The crisis has completely affected us … I think we are all trying to change this context,” said Alejandra Ticona, a 24 -year -old law student. Although it acknowledges that the left has already benefited farmers, like their own family, today she wants the victory of one of the two right -wing candidates to solve economic problems. Doria Medina and Quiroga promise a very similar shock plan, based on a drastic reduction in public spending and the progressive dismantling of millionaire subsidies. “There will begin a new stage where the most important thing will be to regain economic stability, to get out of statism and have a capitalist economy,” Doria Medina said in a recent interview with AFP. The former President Quiroga promises a “seismic change”. Desire for change after 20 years of but in power, “the government simply cannot blame anyone else” for the crisis, said internationalist Pablo Calderón, professor at Northeastern University of London. During the government of Morales, Bolivia tripled its internal production, reduced poverty from 60% to 37% and empowered the indigenous population. Many left -wing governments that previously dominated the political scenario of South America lost continuity in the past decade. Bolivia has been the exception so far. But if the right returns to power, Calderón warns that he should not “make extreme 180 degrees changes,” in particular with regard to social programs that helped many people get out of poverty. The fact is that Bolivians are open to “change”: liberalization of the economy and reducing the role of the state, says Glaeldys González, an analyst of Crisis Group to Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru. “The situation is currently the worst that this generation has lived in the economic area and, I believe, that there is much more openness to this type of policy,” he emphasizes. LIVE TRANSMISSION G1

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