Spanish
La Paz.- The winner of the second round of the presidential election in Bolivia, the centrist Rodrigo Paz, made a call this Monday to all the political forces of the country to unite to guarantee governability, including the binomial of former president Jorge Tuto Quiroga, and stated: "We cannot be petty with our democracy".
Rodrigo Paz gave a press conference in La Paz, one day after his triumph, along with his running mate for the vice presidency Edman Lara, in which he asked the political forces of the Legislative to unite to "regain the lost institutionality".You may be interested in: http://Sheinbaum regrets the "division" of the left in Bolivia after the victory of Rodrigo Paz
The centrist also called on his rival in the second round, former conservative president Quiroga (2001-2002), to join him. "We cannot be petty with our democracy, we need to have greatness, greatness leads to non-confrontation," he said. In reference to the demonstrations that were recorded on Sunday after the preliminary results were announced, Paz emphasized that the mandate of the "people is not confrontation or violence in the streets" and insisted that his team "has extended a hand to all political forces". Regarding the Government transition, Paz indicated that he has already communicated with the President of Bolivia, Luis Arce, to coordinate the transfer of power, which will take place on November 8th. He mentioned that Arce is willing and that his transition team will meet with representatives from the ministries of the Presidency and Foreign Affairs. "With Edman (Lara) and our teams we have begun to generate this transition of only three weeks, twenty days," indicated the centrist Paz. The winning candidate for the Christian Democratic Party (PDC) stated that his "future government" prioritizes "the reconciliation of visions and projects and the urgency of moving the country forward" and that is why, although it has the largest number of legislators in the assembly, it will give priority to negotiating with other political parties. Paz won the second round with 54.61% of the vote, compared to 45.39% obtained by Quiroga, according to the Preliminary Electoral Results System (Sirepre), with 97.86% of the records computed. The electoral body indicated that these preliminary results show "a trend" that "appears to be irreversible" and plans to conclude the official count between Wednesday and Thursday.
