Action at a Distance

As the final lagging returns were being tallied last week in landlocked Bolivia's presidential election, it was clear that the candidate emerging on top was a man who had run his whole campaign from abroad. Victor Paz Estenssoro, 43, nominee in exile of the fascist-like Movement of National Revolution, led his nearest opponent by some 17,000 votes.

Scholarly Paz Estenssoro, onetime Finance Minister and M.N.R. boss, fled to Argentina after the 1946 revolution, when a La Paz mob strung up the bullet-riddled body of M.N.R.-backed Dictator Gualberto Villarroel from a lamppost. Since then, Paz has lived mostly in Buenos Aires and Uruguay. Political confusion and economic difficulties at home paved the way for his startling comeback. But he did not win the absolute majority required for direct election. Congress, meeting in August, must now choose a President from among the three leading candidates (one of whom was backed by the present government).

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