From socialism to shock therapy? Bolivia's presidential hopefuls make last push for votes

Bolivia's presidential candidates made a final push for votes on Wednesday ahead of elections on the weekend set to end 20 years of socialist rule.

Two right-wing candidates are leading the race for the first time since 2005 as voters desert the deeply divided Movement Towards Socialism party, increasingly blamed for the country's deep economic crisis, ahead of Sunday's vote.

Bolivians are struggling through the country's worst crisis in a generation, marked by acute shortages of dollars, fuel and subsidised bread.

A dramatic drop in gas exports has eaten into the country's foreign currency reserves, making it unable to import sufficient fuel for its needs.

Polls show center-right business tycoon Samuel Doria Medina and right-wing ex-president Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga running neck-and-neck on around 20 percent each, with six other candidates trailing far behind.

The two frontrunners wound up their campaigns with fanfares, street parades and packed rallies.

Doria Medina, who owns Bolivia's Burger King franchise among other businesses, pledged shock therapy to pull the country back from the brink of default.

Speaking in the predominantly Indigenous city of El Alto – a longtime stronghold of leftist ex-president Evo Morales, who has been barred from appearing on Sunday's ballot – he vowed to restore dwindling supplies of dollars and fuel "within 100 days" through austerity measures.

Both right-wing candidates have vowed to arrest the highly polarising Morales, who attempted to run for a fourth term despite being wanted by police in connection with his alleged sexual relationship with a teenage girl while in office. Morales has dismissed the allegations against him as a political plot designed to stop him returning to office.

Jonathan Vega, a 25-year-old chef, told AFP he was counting on Doria Medina to "restore stability".

Milei-style reforms

Doria Medina and Quiroga have both vowed to cut costly fuel subsidies, partly roll back Morales-era nationalisations and close loss-making public companies.

Speaking in the city of La Paz, Quiroga said his first priority would be to tamp down inflation, which rose to 24.8 percent year-on-year in July, its highest level since at least 2008.

The 65-year-old also threatened to close the central bank, accusing the outgoing government of using it as a "credit card," and promised to flood Bolivia's lithium-rich Andean high plains with tax-free zones to attract investment.

Quiroga's vision of a "small state" has seen him compared with Argentina's libertarian President Javier Milei.

Alejandro Rios, a 23-year-old lawyer attending Quiroga's rally, said he believed Milei-style reforms were "the right thing for Bolivia, to get out of this crisis".

The two main left-wing candidates, Senate president Andronico Rodriguez and his Movement Towards Socialism rival, former interior minister Eduardo del Castillo, are polling in the single digits.

Morales, 65, has called on his supporters to avenge his disqualification by spoiling their ballots.

As anger flared in June over Morales' disqualification, his supporters blocked highways and clashed with police in unrest that left eight people dead. Morales warned that the country would “convulse” should Sunday's election proceed.

Yet in recent weeks he has changed his tune, urging his followers to register their frustration through the ballot box.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and AP)