Rodrigo Paz wins Bolivian presidency, ends 20-year leftist rule

Centrist Rodrigo Paz won Bolivia's presidential runoff on Sunday, defeating conservative rival Jorge 'Tuto' Quiroga, as the country's worst economic crisis in a generation helped propel the end of nearly two decades of leftist rule.

Paz, a senator from the Christian Democratic Party, won 54.5% of the vote, beating Quiroga's 45.5%, according to early results from Bolivia's electoral tribunal.

But Paz's party does not hold a majority in the country's legislature, which will force him to forge alliances to govern effectively.

The new president takes office on 8 November.

"We must open Bolivia to the world," said Paz during his victory speech from La Paz, after Quiroga conceded defeat.

The 58-year-old senator's win marks a historic shift for the South American country, governed almost continuously since 2006 by Bolivia's Movement to Socialism, or MAS, which once enjoyed overwhelming support from the country's Indigenous majority.

Support for MAS cratered in the August first round amid a deepening economic crisis.

"This election marks a political turning point," said Glaeldys Gonzalez Calanche, analyst for the Southern Andes at International Crisis Group. "Bolivia is heading in a new direction," she said.

Both runoff candidates pledged to strengthen diplomatic ties with Washington — strained since 2009 — and seek U.S.-backed financial support to stabilize Bolivia's fragile economy.

In late September, Paz unveiled plans for a $1.5 billion economic cooperation deal with U.S. officials to ensure fuel supplies.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this week that both presidential candidates "want stronger, better relations with the United States," after decades of anti-American leadership. 

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