Bolivia: Another Right-Wing Candidate Leaves the Presidential Race

Bolivia's former president and Libre 21 Party's candidate Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga Sunday announced that he was leaving the October 18 election race acknowledging that the left-wing party Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) could win in the first round.

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"Valuable people who accompany me deserve to be in Parliament, but never if the cost is that the MAS can stay with the Presidency in the first round," Quiroga explained.

Quiroga recognized the imminence of a MAS victory although he tried to undermine the party's popularity by arguing that "this possibility is negligible but greater than my chance of being President."

However, thus far all vote intention polls point out at MAS candidate Luis Arce as the favorite, followed by Citizen Community's candidate Carlos Mesa and We Believe party's candidate Luis Fernando Camacho in third place.

During the October 3 electoral debate, Quiroga had said that he planned to turn Bolivia into the world's lithium manufacturing capital as he would allow foreign capital to exploit the highly valued natural resource.

Today, the Libre 21 Party's candidate also remarked that after his decision, the responsibility to avoid a first-round MAS win relies on the other right-wing applicants who remain opponents in the electoral race.

Two out of seven presidential candidates who participated in the October 3 electoral debate have dropped the race so far. On October 6 the Nationalist Democratic Action (ADN) party announced its withdrawal.

One week from the elections remain in contest the leftist candidate Luis Arce; Carlos Mesa from Citizen Community; Luis Fernando Camacho from We Believe party; Chi Hyun Chung from Front for Victory, and Feliciano Mamani from Bolivian National Action Party.