With the main political force absent and no narratives to structure the contest, the subnational elections are unfolding amid scattered candidacies and a disoriented electorate.

When the person who should be the president’s main ally decides to confront him publicly, Bolivian politics once again reveals a recurring fracture: that of the vice president who turns the office into a platform for opposition.

After ending two decades of MAS hegemony, Rodrigo Paz assumes the presidency of Bolivia with the legitimacy of change, but faces the enormous challenge of governing without a solid party structure.

Bolivia’s elections marked the collapse of MAS and the rise of Rodrigo Paz with a moderate and inclusive economic discourse, signaling a shift away from extremes toward the political center.

With a discredited electoral body, economic meltdown and a fragmented political map, Bolivia faces elections that could trigger an institutional explosion.

Today's Bolivia is a weakened state, co-opted by illegal networks and unable to enforce the law in vast areas of the country.

The MAS' challenge for the next elections is to reinvent the populist discourse and adapt it to current times.

Looking ahead to the elections, a good part of the power will be shared among the three MAS factions, whose main leaders see how their opponents are tearing each other apart and cancelling each other out.

We have uncertainty, absence of government and loss of sense of politics, the ideal ingredients for a perfect political storm. 


We live in convulsive and contradictory times. On the one hand, we are living in an era that recommends being politically correct, careful in...