LA PAZ, Bolivia — One candidate is Rodrigo Paz, a conservative centrist senator and son of a neoliberal ex-president who is pitching himself as a moderate reformer.

The other is former right-wing president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga, galvanizing voters through promises of harsh austerity and a scorched-earth approach to transforming Bolivia’s state-directed economic model after 20 years of leftist dominance.

At stake in the outcome of Bolivia’s consequential presidential election is the fate of one of South America’s most resource-rich nations, where inflation has soared to heights unseen in decades and polls show growing distrust in major institutions.

“There has been a paradigm shift,” said Bolivian sociologist Renzo Abruzzese. “What is truly historic is that the old cycle is over. It has c

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