Luis Arce, presidential candidate for the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) party, left, talks during a press conference after general elections in La Paz, Bolivia, Monday, Oct. 19, 2020. (JUAN KARITA/AP)

LA PAZ - Bolivia’s President-elect Luis Arce pledged on Friday to “rebuild” the Andean country after a tumultuous year of political turmoil and the pandemic, as the official vote count confirmed a landslide win for his socialist party.

The final tally showed Arce won just over 55 percent of the vote, sweeping the socialists back into power just a year after the party’s leftist leader Evo Morales was ousted amid protests.

The Movement Towards Socialism party obtained absolute majorities in the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, although it did not achieve the two-thirds majority required to carry out constitutional reforms

“Now our great challenge is to rebuild our homeland in peace, to regain joy, stability and hope for a better tomorrow for all Bolivians,” Arce said on social media in response to the final result, with a video of his support around the country.

“We won’t let down the trust that people have placed in us.”

The count put Arce, a pragmatic economist who is credited with fostering Bolivia’s boom years from the mid 2000s, more than 26 points ahead of centrist runner-up Carlos Mesa, who had just shy of 29 percent - a far larger gap than had been expected.

During a ceremony in La Paz, Bolivia's Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) President Salvador Romero said "We have achieved a complex election in the midst of a political crisis; we have complied with a transparent, safe, and verifiable electoral process ... We declare Luis Arce as president-elect of Bolivia and David Choquehuanca as vice president-elect."

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He added that 88 percent of eligible Bolivians voted in the elections.

The Movement Towards Socialism party also obtained absolute majorities in the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, although it did not achieve the two-thirds majority required to carry out constitutional reforms.

The TSE spent five days counting votes throughout the country's nine departments, with the presence of representatives from political organizations, domestic and international observation missions, as well as the media.

This is the first time since 1989 that the country has published the official results of a presidential election in such a short period of time.