Bolivia Has a Shot at Change Now — Even If It’s a Long One
Fixing the country’s economic disaster will be like climbing the Andes, but Bolivians took a big first step by backing reform.
A box full of surprises.
Photographer: Aizar Raldes/AFP/Getty Images
For all the ways Bolivia’s general election could have gone wrong, Sunday’s vote went surprisingly smoothly.
Two credible presidential contenders advanced to an October runoff, giving Bolivians a real choice over who offers the best plan to revive a faltering economy. The losing hopefuls accepted the results quickly after a largely incident-free process. A new congress will be convened in November, bringing fresh faces and incentives for compromise. Symbolically, the collapse of the socialist movement that dominated Bolivia for the past two decades unfolded without the drama that has engulfed the ruling party since shortly after Luis Arce took power in 2020.