Bolivia’s long-ruling party, Movement Toward Socialism (MAS), has lost its supermajority in Congress after the recent presidential and parliamentary elections. The party, which has controlled the country for nearly two decades, suffered a devastating defeat, losing 21 Senate seats and all but two of its lower house seats.
Centrist parties dominated the vote, with Senator Rodrigo Paz’s Christian Democratic Party taking 70 out of 166 total congressional seats. Right-wing former president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga’s Libre Party secured 53 seats. The opposition candidate is poised to gain significant leverage in both the Senate and Chamber of Deputies.
Businessman Samuel Doria Medina’s right-wing Unity bloc captured 35 seats, while a power struggle within the MAS party led to its factionalization and damage to its reputation. Minister Eduardo Del Castillo, the MAS’s official candidate, managed to surpass the 3% threshold needed to persist as a political party.
The election results signal a tectonic shift in Bolivia’s politics, with centrist and right-wing parties taking center stage. Experts describe the outcome as “a new period in Bolivian history” and predict significant changes for the country’s economy and politics.
Source: https://apnews.com/article/bolivia-elections-congress-paz-quiroga-opposition-9d79eeec80bc660b85c243b668b903de