2 Bolivia Candidates Claim Victory : Early Results Show Runoff Will Be Needed to Select President

Both claiming victory, the parties of Bolivia’s top two presidential candidates wrangled Monday over close election results that will force a runoff in Congress no matter who wins the popular vote.

The dispute was part of a peaceful political process that appeared to certify democracy in this impoverished South American country, once known for its frequent military coups.

The party of Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, a millionaire businessman, said that its unofficial projections gave him 26.8% of Sunday’s votes, 2.8% more than the ballots cast for retired Gen. Hugo Banzer, a former military dictator.

“The tendency is clear and victory is assured,” said Sanchez de Lozada in a midday press conference. But Banzer’s party said that its own projections gave him a winning margin of four percentage points.

‘Well-Run Process’

“We reaffirm the triumph of our candidate on the basis of the party’s own information,” said Jaime Cespedes, Banzer’s press secretary.

Cespedes also said that his party has found indications of fraud in the election, but most independent observers said that the voting seemed generally clean.

U.S. Ambassador Robert S. Gelbard called the contest “one of the cleanest, most well-run and peaceful processes” in contemporary Latin America.

Speaking to foreign reporters, Gelbard said the election was “very close” and that determining the winner may take several days.

Returns Trickle In

With nearly 60% of the votes counted, unofficial returns compiled by the independent ATB television network gave Banzer 26.8% and Sanchez de Lozada 26.3%. But the margin was changing as slow returns trickled in from rural provinces, where Sanchez de Lozada made a much stronger showing than Banzer.

Although official returns will not be complete until late in May, there was no doubt that the top finishers were Banzer, 62, and Sanchez de Lozada, 58.

Because no candidate won more than 50% of the vote, electoral law requires a runoff in the new Congress--which also was elected Sunday--when it convenes in August.

The top vote-winner in the direct elections is expected to have a “psychological advantage” in the runoff, Gelbard said, but “there is going to be a process of bargaining over the coming months to see who the winner is.”

A key force in the decision will be the Leftist Revolutionary Movement of former Vice President Jaime Paz Zamora, who describes himself as a democratic socialist. Paz Zamora finished third in the presidential vote with about 22% of Sunday’s vote, according to the ATB television returns.

Other Parties

ATB gave 12% to the populist party of presidential candidate Carlos Palenque, a charismatic radio and television personality, and 6% to the Marxist-oriented United Left coalition. Five other parties shared the rest of the votes.

Each party’s representation in Congress will be determined by its share of the presidential vote.

According to electoral law, the legislators will choose from among the top three presidential candidates in the first runoff vote--but that vote is not expected to be conclusive. In the second runoff vote, only the top two candidates will be eligible.

Banzer, 62, has run in four presidential elections since the end of his seven-year dictatorship in 1978. He finished first in the 1985 popular vote, but the Congress elected the second-place candidate, former President Victor Paz Estenssoro.

Banzer then joined Paz Estenssoro in a “Democratic Pact” that gave government positions to Banzer’s conservative party, Nationalist Democratic Action, in exchange for support.

Sanchez de Lozada, 58, belongs to Paz Estenssoro’s Nationalist Revolutionary Movement, a party with factions on both left and right. As planning minister, Sanchez de Lozada helped tame runaway inflation that reached an annual rate of 20,000% in 1985, before Paz Estenssoro took office.

Free-Market Policies

Both Banzer and Sanchez de Lozada have promised to maintain the current administration’s free-market economic policies, which have emphasized government austerity and inflation-control. Both also have promised to push for faster economic growth and the creation of new jobs.

Unemployment in Bolivia, South America’s poorest country, is officially estimated at about 18%. The country’s economy grew by a little more than 2% last year after declining by 26% between 1980 and 1987.

The country’s total economic income, if distributed evenly among its 7 million people, would amount to about $500 a year each. But income distribution is lopsided, and most Bolivians live on far less.