Bolivia’s electoral tribunal said late Sunday that centrist senator Rodrigo Paz of the Christian Democratic Party won 32 percent of the vote in the first round of the presidential election, ahead of conservative former president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga with roughly 27 percent. Because neither candidate met the legal threshold of 40 percent with a 10-point margin, the two will face each other in an unprecedented run-off scheduled for 19 October. The result ends nearly two decades of dominance by the left-wing Movement for Socialism. The party’s official contender, Interior Minister Eduardo del Castillo, secured just 3 percent of the vote, while Senate leader Andrónico Rodríguez finished below 8 percent and was pelted with stones after casting his ballot. A record 19.2 percent of voters followed former president Evo Morales’s call to spoil their ballots in protest at his exclusion from the race. MAS officials later acknowledged that internal splits and economic malaise contributed to the defeat. The ballot took place against a backdrop of 40-year-high inflation of about 23 percent, fuel and dollar shortages and a sharp erosion of foreign reserves. Financial markets welcomed the prospect of a pro-business administration: the country-risk premium tracked by JPMorgan fell 318 basis points to 1,207 on Monday, and the 2028 sovereign bond gained more than 5 cents to trade above US$83. International observers, including a European Union mission, described the vote as orderly despite an explosion near a polling station and isolated clashes. Outgoing president Luis Arce said the election showed that “democracy has triumphed.” Over the next two months, Paz and Quiroga will vie for support from third-placed businessman Samuel Doria Medina and other smaller parties as they present competing plans to stabilise the economy, attract investment and reset relations with Washington.