An exit poll in Bolivia’s high stakes presidential election gave socialist candidate Luis Arce the lead he needs to avoid a run-off election. The quick-count Ciesmori polls were released late on Sunday by Bolivian media. They showed Arce with 52.4% of the votes and Carlos Mesa in second place candidate with 31.5%.
Arce, a former economy minister, is an ally of former-President Evo Morales, while Mesa is a centrist who served as president in the early 2000s.
To avoid a runoff, the winning candidate needed to secure more than 50% of the vote, or 40% with a lead of at least 10% over the second-place candidate.