Early official result showed the ruling Movement for Socialism (MAS) on track for its worst election defeat in a generation.

Senator Rodrigo Paz, the surprise top finisher in Bolivia's first-round presidential election, spent years traveling the country, posting hundreds of social media videos and honing his image like a fu

Early official results in Bolivia showed the centrist Rodrigo Paz of the Christian Democratic Party leading Sunday's presidential race, with a surprise 32.04% of the vote according to the country's electoral tribunal.

Bolivia's presidential candidate Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga has promised major economic reforms, including giving citizens direct ownership stakes.

One candidate is Rodrigo Paz, a conservative centrist senator and son of a neoliberal ex-president who is pitching himself as a moderate reformer.

Centrist senator Rodrigo Paz was leading Bolivia's presidential election, according to early official results, which showed the ruling Movement for Socialism on track for its worst election defeat in a generation.

Now, on October 19, Bolivians will hold presidential runoff for the first time—an option only introduced in the 2009 Constitution. As voters prepare to pick their next president, AS/COA online looks at dark horse candidate Paz, the collapse of MAS, and the composition of the next national legislature.

Bolivia's presidential vote is headed to an unprecedented runoff after Sunday's election ended over two decades of ruling party dominance in the Andean nation.

Early exit polls in Bolivia's presidential election on Sunday showed Centrist Senator Rodrigo Paz of the Christian Democratic Party leading, with the ruling Movement for Socialism party on track to suffer its worst electoral defeat in a generation.

STORY: Early official results in Bolivia show the country's ruling leftists on track for their worst defeat in a generation.Instead the electoral tribunal says centrist senator Rodrigo Paz of the Christian Democratic Party is leading the election late Sunday.

The return to power of the far right in Bolivia proves once again that bourgeois nationalism only serves to disarm the working class.

A well-known figure in Bolivian politics, Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga, 65, is a conservative candidate representing the Alianza Libre coalition. He briefly served as president from 2001 to 2002 and has worked as an IMF consultant and a mining executive.