Ex -deputy, former mayor, economist by profession and born in Spain for the exile of his parents, the opposition presidential candidate Rodrigo Paz Pereira has given the surprise in the general elections in Bolivia by first appearing in the rapid counts with more than 30% of the valid votes.
Paz Pereira, 57, is the main revelation of the current electoral process, as it went from the last places in pre -electoral surveys to play a second round with former president Jorge ‘Tuto’ Quiroga, whom the rapid counts give 27%.
His formula partner in the Christian Democratic Party (PDC) is the former police officer Edman Lara, who became popular in social networks for his revelations of various cases of alleged corruption in the police institution, until in 2024 he was discharged.
Son of the Spanish Carmen Pereira and the former Bolivian president Jaime Paz Zamora, Paz Pereira was born in Santiago de Compostela in 1967 and lived her childhood in several countries because her parents were persecuted during military governments.
The politician is an economist and has studies in international relations, in addition to extensive experience in the public sector, having been a deputy, councilor, mayor of the southern city of Tarija between 2015 and 2020 and is currently a senator by the opposition force Citizen Community (CC), by former president Carlos Mesa (2003-2005).
To reach the City Hall of Tarija, Paz Pereira defeated the governmental movement of Socialism (MAS), then led by former President Evo Morales (2006-2019) in the municipal elections of 2015.
In 2019, he was part of the so -called Democracy Defense Coordinator that demanded that there be a second electoral round, amid the complaints of a fraud in favor of the then president Morales and at the expense of Carlos Mesa in the failed general elections of that year, subsequently annulled.
In the current electoral process, the senator had a modest campaign in front of the great deployment made by Quiroga and the also opponent Samuel Doria Medina, whom the surveys had placed among the first places and with the possibility of playing the second round.
In statements to Efe, Paz Pereira defined himself as “a man who has two huge congratulations, love the homeland and love his family.” “From this, (Paz) builds a vision with other men and women who love peace, the whole of the country and their families with Christian values, and we are in a job of generating a great agreement, a consensus,” he said.
To win the elections, Paz Pereira promised to comply with the proposed agenda with Lara, including their offers to end the “tranca state” to give more resources to the Bolivian regions, cut the “superfluous expenses” in the state and apply “hard hand” against corruption and a judicial reform.
“Bolivia needs stability, it needs governance, but it needs to end the tranca state for the State to work for us and us for the State,” he said.
It is also clear that to implement his plans, he must achieve consensus in the legislative that would be chaired by the ‘Capi Lara’ if the duo achieves the victory in the second round. Paz Pereira trusts his experience as a legislator and as the head of an executive body, having been mayor.
