Bolivia is set to hold presidential election on Sunday

(MENAFN) Bolivia is preparing for a presidential vote on Sunday, with nearly 8 million citizens expected to cast ballots as the nation grapples with its most severe economic downturn in forty years.

Following two years marked by political unrest and widespread protests against President Luis Arce’s leftist administration, surveys indicate that Bolivians may be shifting sharply toward conservative leadership, potentially ending the Movement for Socialism’s (MAS) twenty-year hold on power, a party long associated with former President Evo Morales.

The race is currently dominated by two right-leaning contenders. Samuel Doria Medina, 66, a center-right entrepreneur and former planning minister representing the National Unity Front, leads the polls. Once a major shareholder in Bolivia’s largest cement company, Medina now runs hotels and fast-food businesses. He has previously campaigned for president in 2005, 2009, and 2014, but without success.

Trailing him is Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga, 65, from the Freedom and Democracy party. Quiroga, who has also run for the presidency three times, previously served as Bolivia’s head of state from 2001 to 2002, completing the term of former military ruler Hugo Banzer after Banzer stepped down due to lung cancer.

Both opposition candidates have pledged to dismantle MAS’s state-centered economic system, which many citizens hold responsible for the ongoing financial hardships.

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