Bolivian President Evo Morales will face a run-off vote for the first time after failing to secure a fourth consecutive term at an election. Morales had 45% of the vote to 38% of former President Carlos Mesa, partial results from Sunday's presidential vote showed.
Bolivia's Evo Morales will seek a controversial fourth term as president on Sunday when voters head to the polls in what is expected to be a tight race for the once-popular left-wing leader. Morales is already the longest-serving president in Bolivian history, having been at the helm for 13 years, and its first indigenous president.
The presidential election in Bolivia on October 20 will count with an Electoral Observation Mission from the Organization of American States (OAS), led by the former Foreign Minister of Costa Rica, Manuel González.
Heavy rain that has drenched eastern Bolivia's Chiquitania tropical savanna has put out fires that have ravaged millions of hectares in recent months, authorities said on Sunday.
More than two million wild animals, including jaguars, pumas and llamas, have perished in weeks of wildfires that devastated huge swathes of Bolivian forest and grassland, environmental experts said on Wednesday. The fires devastated the Chiquitania tropical savanna in the east of the country.
Bolivia's President Evo Morales and Argentina's presidential frontrunner Alberto Fernández met Thursday evening in Santa Cruz de la Sierra to discuss Latin American region and possible future joint actions.
Argentine forest firefighter Jhonatan Villalva had to be ferried Wednesday to a medical facility after suffering from poisoning by smoke as a result of his deployment to the fire-plagued Chiquitanía area in Bolivia.
In the tropical Bolivian city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, a wealthy farming hub on the edge on the Amazon rainforest, President Evo Morales gathered with ranchers late last month to celebrate a maiden shipment of beef to China.
Wildfires raging in Bolivia's forests and grasslands since May have destroyed 1.7 million hectares, officials said on Wednesday, amid a US$11 million effort by the government to contain them.
Fires have destroyed 1.2 million hectares of forest and grasslands in Bolivia this year, the government said on Wednesday, though environmentalists claim the true figure is much greater.