BOGOTA, Colombia/ISTANBUL

Center-right Senator Rodrigo Paz of the Christian Democratic Party (PDC) won Bolivia’s presidential runoff election Sunday after defeating former conservative President Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga.

With over 97% of the ballots counted, preliminary results released by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) confirmed that Paz secured 54.53% of the vote compared to 45.43% for Quiroga.

Paz, a 58-year-old economist, was born on Sept. 22, 1967 in Spain and spent his childhood in Argentina, Chile, Peru, Venezuela and Panama, among other countries. With Sunday’s result, Paz makes his debut with a victory that, until just two months ago—when he unexpectedly won the first round—seemed impossible.

He developed much of his political career in the southern department of Tarija, where he served as a councilman, mayor and congressman before running as a senator. He is the son of former President Jaime Paz Zamora, who governed from 1989 to 1993.

Quiroga acknowledged his rival's victory.

“We cannot leave the country in limbo. We would exacerbate the problems of people suffering from the crisis; we cannot question it. We need a mature attitude at this time. We are going to verify the results, but I have congratulated Rodrigo,” Quiroga told his supporters.

Sunday's election marks the definitive end of nearly two decades of leftist dominance as citizens chose between two capitalist candidates. The election signals a major political shift for the Andean nation following the defeat of the long-ruling Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) party in the first round.

Paz will officially take office on Nov. 8 and will immediately face the challenge of leading Bolivia out of its deepest economic crisis in four decades. The country is grappling with severe shortages of US dollars, which has reduced imports and contributed to year-on-year inflation soaring to 25% last month. The dollar shortage and depleted reserves, stemming partly from a decline in natural gas production, have also caused widespread fuel shortages across large cities.

According to Oscar Hassenteufel, the president of the TSE, voter turnout in the second round was between 85% and 89%.