Early results showed centrist Rodrigo Paz take the lead, with 32.8 percent of the vote, in surprise outcome.Bolivia is heading to a presidential run-off between a centrist and right-wing candidate, confirming the end of two decades of government by the Movement for Socialism (MAS), according to the South American country’s electoral council.With more than 91 percent of the ballots counted on Sunday night, preliminary results showed centrist Rodrigo Paz of the Christian Democratic Party (PDC) in the lead, with 32.8 percent of the vote.Conservative former interim President Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga, of the Alianza Libre coalition, was in second place, with 26.4 percent of the vote, meaning he will face Paz, the son of former left-leaning President Jaime Paz, in a run-off election on October 19.Candidates needed to surpass 50 percent, or 40 percent with a 10-point margin of victory, to avoid a run-off.Al Jazeera’s Latin America editor Lucia Newman, reporting from Bolivia’s Santa Cruz de la Sierra, said the early results confirmed that MAS, which has governed the country since 2005, is “out of the picture”.But the “biggest surprise”, Newman said, is “that the frontrunner is none other than somebody who was polling between fourth and fifth place up until now”.Paz is “more to the centre” than his father, Newman added.Eight presidential candidates were in the running in Sunday’s presidential electi …
