Paz leads Bolivia to Oct 19 runoff against Quiroga

Bolivia is headed to its first presidential runoff in decades after a first round that upended nearly 20 years of leftist leadership. Centrist Rodrigo Paz Pereira captured the largest share of votes, a result that pushed conservative former president Jorge Tuto Quiroga into a runoff set for October 19. The two right-leaning candidates will compete to lead a country battling its worst economic crisis in generations, with high inflation, shortages of dollars and fuel, and a fragile public mood about the direction of policy.

Early results showed Paz leading with roughly one-third of ballots counted, a surprise given weeks of polls that had favored other contenders. Quiroga trailed in second place, leaving the leftist Movement for Socialism (MAS) far behind. The MAS’s official candidate, Eduardo del Castillo, finished with a small fraction of the vote, underscoring a dramatic collapse of the party that had dominated Bolivian politics for years. The runoffs will proceed against a backdrop of broad concern over the economy, a squeeze on household incomes, and public anger over persistent shortages.

Voters have faced a chain of economic pressures: double-digit inflation, a shortage of...