Bolivia’s first‐round presidential vote on 18 August ended two decades of Movement for Socialism rule and set up an unexpected runoff between centrist senator Rodrigo Paz and former president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga. Official results released by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, with 100% of ballots counted, showed Paz’s Christian Democratic Party leading with 32.08% and Quiroga’s Libre alliance trailing at 26.94%. The MAS candidate garnered roughly 3.2%, prompting the governing party and its founder, former president Evo Morales, to concede defeat. A second round is scheduled for 19 October. Financial markets welcomed the rightward shift. Bolivian sovereign bonds rallied and the country-risk premium fell 318 basis points, according to traders, as investors bet on policy reversals more favourable to private capital. The political upheaval has also reverberated through the courts. On 23 August the Supreme Court ordered judges to re-examine whether three high-profile right-wing figures—ex-interim president Jeanine Añez, Santa Cruz governor Luis Fernando Camacho and activist Marco Antonio Pumari—have been held too long without trial. The directive could open the door to their release and further underscore the country’s sharp break with the previous political era.