Congress may have to choose between close front-runners
 

  LA PAZ, Bolivia - (AP) -- A mining executive and a former military captain were apparently leading the presidential race Sunday in an election seen as a test for
  democracy in South America's poorest country, exit polls showed.

  Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, the country's president from 1993 to 1997 and a multimillionaire owner of Bolivia's largest mining company, was estimated to have 22.6 percent of the vote, while four-time mayor Manfred Reyes Villa had 21.6 percent.

  DECISION BY CONGRESS

  Since no candidate was likely to get the 50 percent plus one vote that is required for outright victory, the president will be chosen by the 157 members of the new
  Congress from the top two vote-getters in time for the Aug. 6 presidential inauguration.

  Despair over the worsening economy and rising crime has driven many voters toward candidates advocating radical change in Sunday's presidential and congressional elections.

  Reyes Villa says he favors a ''social revolution'' and ''moving beyond'' the country's free-market system but has been short on specifics, leaving some to wonder how much he would truly change the status quo.

  ''I think he has really good intentions,'' said Pedro Lopez, a 40-year-old accountant who voted for Reyes Villa. ``And he's never been president, so we have yet to see if he's just like the others who've already shown us they don't follow through on their promises.''

  Sánchez de Lozada, known by the nickname Goni, is responsible for much of Bolivia's capitalization. He is seen by many voters as the most conservative way to pull Bolivia out of its current economic crisis.

  NEXT IN LINE

  Coming in third with 16.8 percent, according to the exit-poll results, was Evo Morales, an Aymara Indian who is the controversial leader of Bolivia's coca farmers.

  Close behind with 15.4 percent was Jaime Paz Zamora, a social democrat who has appealed to voters with a plan that would see shares of Bolivian gas returned to the state.

  ''I voted for Paz Zamora because he's going to create jobs for Bolivians,'' said Patricia Lima, 32, who is unemployed.

  At least six of every 10 Bolivians live in poverty, and in rural areas it's nine of 10. Violent crime, including bank robberies, kidnappings and bombings, is on the rise in a nation once known for its tranquillity.

  Police patrolled the streets of the Bolivian capital, enforcing a national law that prohibits unauthorized traffic on election day. The ban was designed to keep political
  parties from transporting groups of voters around the city to cast multiple ballots. But families on foot filled the city plazas despite strong winds and cold winter weather, and children rode their bicycles down the main avenues.

  ''The atmosphere is quite calm in most parts of the country,'' said Elizabeth Spehar, chief of the Organization of American States' mission overseeing the elections with about 60 observers throughout the country. ``There's been a really good volume of voters, and only very small, isolated incidents of friction.''

  Polling stations began filling up only after the final match for soccer's World Cup ended and supporters of victorious South American neighbor Brazil had a chance to run into the streets to celebrate. Crowds filled the voting centers, where volunteers shut white plastic curtains around the voters as they marked their ballots.

  Term limits prevented Jorge Quiroga from running again as president in this nation of 8.3 million people. Quiroga took over when President Hugo Banzer resigned last year after being diagnosed with cancer.