Bolivia's 2025 Presidential Runoff: Comparing the Candidates

Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga

Image

Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga

Born in Cochabamba in 1960, Quiroga obtained degrees in industrial engineering and business management in Texas before returning to Bolivia in 1988. After a period working in the banking and mining sectors, he joined the National Democratic Action (ADN) party, an electoral vehicle formed by Hugo Banzer, who had previously led a military dictatorship in the 1970s. Quiroga quickly elevated his profile within the party and in national politics, and in 1992, at just 32 years of age, he was appointed finance minister in the cabinet of President Paz Zamora—his current opponent’s father.

He later ascended to the vice presidency in Banzer’s democratic administration (1997–2001). When Banzer stepped down due to ill health in 2001, Quiroga completed the final year of his presidential term. During his time as president, Quiroga implemented fiscal austerity measures, continued Banzer’s coca eradication campaign, and attempted to make progress on a deal to export Bolivian natural gas to the United States.

This is Quiroga's fourth run for the presidency. His platform promises to give “property and liberty” to Bolivians. Although the platform also rejects the labels of “left” or “right,” he is viewed as a conservative.

His running mate on the Libre ticket is Juan Pablo Velasco, a 38-year-old tech executive from Santa Cruz, a major city in eastern Bolivia. Velasco has recently faced controversy over a resurfaced social media post from 2010 that promoted violence against the majority-indigenous population of western Bolivia.

Rodrigo Paz Pereira

Image

Rodrigo Paz

Paz was born in Spain in 1967 during the exile of his father, who, well before becoming president, was a leftist dissident during the period of military regimes. His family eventually returned to La Paz, and the younger Paz went on to earn degrees in economics, international relations, and political administration in Washington, DC.

His own political career kicked off in 2002 when he was elected to represent the southern department of Tarija in the national legislature. Much of Paz’s political career has been based in Tarija, the main gas- and wine-producing region, where he has also served as a municipal councilor (2010–2015), mayor (2015–2020), and senator (2020–present).

Throughout his career, Paz has aligned himself with parties that vary along the ideological spectrum. He began in his father’s Revolutionary Left Movement, then joined Social Democratic Power, a right-wing alliance headed by Quiroga, and is currently the presidential nominee of the PDC, a party positioned somewhere between the incumbent MAS government and Quiroga’s Libre Alliance. Paz’s campaign slogan is “Capitalism for All.”

His running mate is Edman Lara, a former police captain who gained national prominence for his TikTok videos denouncing corruption in the police force. Lara caused a stir when, during a September campaign stop, he said that as vice president, presiding over the legislature, he would have more power than Paz. Nevertheless, analysts have highlighted Lara’s appeal among the lower and middle class, particularly in MAS strongholds in Bolivia’s highlands, as a boost for the pair’s grassroots, pavement-pounding campaign that launched Paz to an unexpected first-round victory.

Bolivians have been grappling with an economic crisis marked by high inflation and shortages of food, fuel, and foreign exchange. In June, monthly inflation hit 5.2 percent, the highest in Latin America, and as of September, the accumulated increase in the price of basic goods for the year reached 18.33 percent, more than double the ceiling set by the administration of President Luis Arce. Long lines at gas stations and a volatile black market for U.S. dollars have been central themes at recurrent protests in recent months.

Quiroga has outlined an economic program of trade liberalization and fiscal austerity. Key reforms on his agenda include the privatization of state enterprises, a revamp of the agriculture and hydrocarbon sectors, and reductions in social spending, particularly on long-standing fuel subsidies. These subsidies have been a source of contention in a country that imports around 90 percent of the diesel and more than 50 percent of the gas it consumes as its own natural gas reserves dwindle. Quiroga has also said his government would request a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other lenders to replenish foreign currency reserves that would then be used to address the lack of fuel.

Paz has sought to assure Bolivians that his reforms will not be sudden or severe. He has rejected the idea of turning to the IMF—although he did not rule out other multilateral lenders—preferring instead to renegotiate existing debt, which stands at around $42 billion. While also planning to end fuel subsidies, Paz has expressed support for pension increases, universal income for stay-at-home mothers, and other forms of social assistance. On the issue of privatization, he has suggested selling off loss-making state enterprises to Bolivian companies. His ideas for reinvigorating Bolivia’s productive economy include offering more credit and tax incentives for entrepreneurs, and lowering tariffs on products that Bolivia must import due to a lack of domestic production.

Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni is estimated to hold 23 million metric tons of lithium, the largest deposit in the world, none of which has been extracted. The outgoing government signed deals with Russia and China in 2024 to begin extraction, but the projects have been held up by objections from congress, as well as indigenous and environmental groups.

Quiroga has vowed to scrap these agreements and look for new investors. He additionally proposed collaboration with Argentina and Chile, which together with Bolivia form what is called the “lithium triangle,” an area holding about 60 percent of global reserves of the mineral. His goal is to develop a lithium battery industry that rivals China’s. Quiroga’s flagship proposal is the creation of a state-run fund from which each adult citizen would receive a share of the profits made from the exploitation of lithium and other natural resources.

Paz has pushed for more transparency concerning the current government’s lithium deals with China and Russia. He also called for lowering expectations on the sector’s capacity to be a principal motor of growth, arguing that natural gas has greater economic potential and that lithium extraction could harm tourism in the Uyuni salt flats.

During 20 years of MAS leadership, Bolivia aligned itself with the region’s leftist governments, including Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, while distancing itself from the United States. In addition, under Arce, the country became the newest full member of Mercosur in 2024 and joined BRICS as a “partner country” in January 2025.

Throughout his political career, Quiroga has been a vocal opponent of governments he has referred to as “totalitarian troglodyte tyrannies.” If elected president, he has sworn to break off relations with Cuba, Iran, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, in addition to withdrawing Bolivia’s recognition of Nicolás Maduro as Venezuela’s president.

On commercial relations, Quiroga has been critical of Mercosur’s “protectionist” common external tariff and plans to pursue bilateral free trade agreements. He has, however, expressed interest in continuing relationships with certain BRICS members, particularly India and China. 

Paz has said he would “suspend” but not break relations with Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, and would support “everything that helps return democracy to these countries.” In contrast to Quiroga, he expressed support for strengthening Bolivia’s integration within Mercosur.

Both candidates have said they would seek closer ties with the United States.