Bolivians Trim Presidential Field to 3 Apparent Finalists

The nation’s voters cast ballots Sunday in presidential elections, narrowing the field of candidates from 14 to three apparent finalists: a mining magnate, a former military dictator and a populist beer baron.

Since none won an absolute majority, a new Congress will choose the president from among the finalists before Inauguration Day on Aug. 6.

Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, 62, a U.S.-educated mining executive and former planning minister, was in first place by an ample margin Sunday night, according to early vote tabulations.

Retired Gen. Hugo Banzer, 67, was in second place, and Max Fernandez, 50, head of the country’s largest brewery, was running third, according to the counts.

The ATB television network gave Sanchez de Lozada 35%, Banzer 21% and Fernandez 13% with more than half of the vote tallied.

Close behind Fernandez was Carlos Palenque, a popular La Paz broadcaster, with 12%. ATB acknowledged that Palenque could pull ahead of Fernandez but said there was virtually no chance of change in the first two places.

“It’s very clear that we are the winners,” Sanchez de Lozada said late Sunday. He predicted that he would easily win the runoff.

The vote was peaceful but disorganized, with incomplete electoral rolls, ballot shortages and absent poll keepers.

All three apparent presidential finalists advocate economic policies of fiscal austerity and market freedom, similar to the policies of current President Jaime Paz Zamora. Which candidate takes power will depend on negotiations among the parties in Congress.

Fernandez is expected to support Banzer in the congressional voting. But Sanchez de Lozada’s Nationalist Revolutionary Movement, known by the Spanish initials MNR, hopes to form an alliance with enough smaller parties to beat the combined Banzer-Fernandez forces in Congress.

The winner of popular voting does not necessarily win the presidency, but defenders of the system say it guarantees a government with majority support in Congress.

The new Congress was elected Sunday by a proportional system that allocates seats to different parties according to the votes received by their presidential tickets.

President Paz Zamora is constitutionally barred from a second four-year term. His Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR) did not run its own candidate but supported Banzer.