Overview

• Samuel Doria Medina holds a narrow lead in aggregated polls on the eve of Bolivia’s August 17 election, with no contender surpassing 25 percent of voting intentions and an October runoff increasingly likely.
• His “Cien días ¡carajo!” platform promises to halt inflation and devaluation within 100 days, including an early removal of long-standing fuel subsidies while maintaining targeted social cash transfers.
• Voters are reacting to steep food-price increases, diesel shortages and a lack of dollars that have strained household budgets and boosted support for fiscal austerity measures.
• The former minister has signaled plans to pivot Bolivia’s foreign policy away from China, Iran and Russia toward closer ties with the United States, citing U.S. interest in the country’s lithium reserves.
• Commentators argue that opposition calls for spending cuts represent a pragmatic response to the economic crisis rather than a deep-seated ideological shift in a country governed by leftist MAS administrations for nearly two decades.