Decades of Socialist Rule at Stake as Bolivia Vote Count Starts
Bolivia's Departmental Electoral Tribunal billboard promoting the presidential election, in La Paz on Aug. 16.
Photographer: Martin Bernetti/AFP/Getty Images
The vote count is underway in Bolivia’s presidential and congressional elections that may end years of socialist rule and herald warmer relations with Washington.
The election took place amid unrest, shortages and the steepest inflation in more than three decades. The economic crisis has undermined support for the ruling MAS party, which has held power almost without interruption since 2006.