Bolivians reacted on Monday to the election results that has the South American country headed to an unprecedented runoff after Sunday's vote that ended more than two decades of left-wing dominance in the Andean nation.

It also signaled voters' trepidation about a major lurch to the right.

Elsa Marín, market vendor rom Santa Cruz was surprised but happy with results that defeated the leftist candidates. "Never again socialism, because socialism has affected us a lot here in Bolivia," she said. "We were ending up just like in Venezuela, like other countries with socialism."

A centrist lawmaker from a prominent political family, Sen. Rodrigo Paz, and a right-wing former president, Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga, will face off in October after a first round of voting knocked out candidates allied with the nation’s long-dominant Movement Toward Socialism, or MAS, party.

Former mayor Paz drew more votes than the right-wing front-runners, although not enough to secure an outright victory, early results showed.

Paz’s campaign gained unexpected traction in recent weeks as he teamed up with Edman Lara, a social media savvy ex-police captain with evangelical backing whose supporters see him as a bold leader willing to stand up to corruption in the security forces.

They campaigned with the slogan “Capitalism for all” — rejecting the statist policies of MAS while pitching a more inclusive approach to rescuing Bolivia from its worst economic crisis in four decades. He has promised to lower tariffs, reduce taxes and make small loans more accessible for entrepreneurs.

With over 91% of the ballots counted Sunday, Paz received 32.8% of the votes cast. Quiroga secured 26.4%. Candidates needed to surpass 50%, or 40% with a 10-point margin of victory, to avoid a runoff.

AP Video by Carlos Guerrero and Cesar Olmos

Produced by Victor R. Caivano