Bolivia's presidential frontrunner has 'phone stolen' while celebrating first-round win

The surprise frontrunner in Bolivia's presidential elections reportedly had his phone stolen on Sunday while giving a speech to supporters to celebrate his first-round victory.

Centrist senator Rodrigo Paz topped Sunday's polls with 32% of the votes cast, although he did not receive a high enough share to secure an outright victory.

Paz will face right-wing former President Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga — who received just over 26% of the votes — in a runoff on 19 October.

On Sunday evening, while Paz was addressing his supporters in Bolivia's capital of La Paz after his first-round win, the candidate's phone was stolen, local media reported.

In videos shared by Bolivian news outlets and on social media, a man at Paz's rally can be heard shouting: "Rodrigo Paz's cell phone has gone missing". It is unclear how the phone was stolen. The footage could not be independently verified by Euronews.

Paz told the El Deber newspaper that his phone had been stolen, but did not give any more details. As of Monday morning, the device was still missing, the outlet reported.

It's not the first time a politician's stolen mobile has made headlines in Bolivia.

In August 2022, former Bolivian President Evo Morales said that his phone was taken during a campaign event in Santa Cruz, the country's largest city. The disappearance of his phone sparked a massive police operation in a bid to find it, according to local media.

Sunday's vote signalled the end of an era for the MAS party, which has ruled almost uninterrupted since Morales rose to power as part of the "pink tide" of leaders who came into office across Latin America during the commodities boom of the early 2000s.

The official MAS candidate — Eduardo del Castillo — finished sixth with just 3.2% of the vote. A leftist candidate considered to be the party's best hope — 36-year-old Senate president Andrónico Rodríguez — won 8% of the vote.

During his almost 14 years in power, Morales expanded the rights of Bolivia's Indigenous majority, defended coca growers against US-backed eradication programmes and poured natural gas profits into social programs. But his increasingly high-handed attempts to prolong his presidency soured public opinion against him.

Meanwhile, Paz's promotion of what he calls "capitalism for all" has sparked excitement among voters as Bolivia undergoes its worst economic crisis in almost four decades.

The country's annual inflation rate has soared from 2% less than two years ago to 25% as of last month. A scarcity of fuel has paralysed the nation, while a shortage of US dollars needed to pay for essential imports such as wheat has crippled its economy.