Elections in Bolivia

Election winner's mobile phone stolen during victory speech

Bolivian presidential candidate Rodrigo Paz had his mobile phone stolen while he was giving his victory speech after the first round of the election on Monday, Bolivian media reports. Several videos show how the news spreads during the celebrations on Paseo del Prado avenue in La Paz.

-Our president's mobile phone is gone! shouts an employee into a microphone.

-The GPS shows it's still here, help find it! shouts another while several people call Paz and there are rushes as people think they have identified fleeing thieves.

There was nothing important on the mobile phone, just "memories from the campaign," Rodrigo Paz told the radio station El Deber, according to La Voz de Tarija.

The centrist candidate, who received over 32 percent of the vote, will face right-wing Jorge Quiroga with just over 26 percent in a second round in October.

Sociologist: Paz captured the emerging middle class

Many were surprised by Rodrigo Paz's success in the Bolivian presidential election, but no one really should have been surprised. So says sociologist Renzo Abruzzese on Bolivian television channel Red Uno.

He describes it as the main opponents in the election having targeted smaller groups of voters. Businessman Samuel Doria Medina attracted the "victorious businessman" while Jorge Quiroga became popular among "struggling liberals".

But centrist candidate Paz has managed to build an image of being an "ordinary citizen" and thereby become a representative of "the vast majority of the inhabitants of this country - the emerging middle class".

Paz received the most votes in the first round of the election, but not enough to become president. A second round against right-wing politician Jorge Quiroga will be held in October.