Bolivian Elections: New Government, New Elections, New Path
Bolivia Today ©
While approaching the end of the first quarter in 2020, Bolivia has had to leave behind its most recent political crisis to confront an even more threatening crisis, the covid-19 crisis. As much as the rest of the world, the country has been affected by the virus, albeit at a slower pace. At the time of this post, Bolivia has close to 100 confirmed cases and three deaths to report. However, the cases are increasing and the provisional government is highly alarmed and has therefore been taking very dramatic measures to slow the pace even more. We will see, how this part will play out in the next months and years.
For now and for the sake of chronological order (in this blog), the focus of attention must fall on the events after the change of government until the arrival of the virus.
As noted in the prior post, the new Anez government had one, and only one, important task, i.e. the organization of new, credible, transparent, clean, general elections which were going to take place on May 3, 2020.
What happened since the arrival of the new Government
One of the first tasks was to rebuild the structures to be able, at all, to hold elections at the national level. The first step Anez took was to organize her government and to elect or choose a new team for the electoral court, the institution responsible for organizing the elections. To see who these people are, read the prior post. Of course, this was not enough, the Bolivian system is very similar to a federal system, so the electoral court has two more sub-levels at the departmental and the municipal levels. All of these posts needed to be filled with equally competent and experienced people.
Once the structure was re-built, the next step was to issue a so-called "summon for elections" (in Spanish, convocatoria a elecciones). This is a law stipulating, primarily, when the elections should take place, as well as, who gets elected, how long should it take, who is responsible for the organization, etc. The law was issued on November 24, 2019, and it was denominated Law No. 1266.
The next step was the responsibility of the newly designated electoral court. The members of this body, because they are more than one, are called in Bolivia, Vocales, which roughly translates into members (as in members of the Board of Directors). On January 5, 2020, the electoral court (more exactly, the board), issued the "electoral schedule". In it, you can find not only the day in which the elections would take place but also all other important deadlines, such as voter registration, party registration, complaints and challenges to decisions, the designation of the places in the ballot, the registration of media for the electoral campaign, who can carry out polls, within which period of time, etc. Actually, the schedule was progressing as published until the virus showed up. On March 22nd, the government declared a national health emergency, which meant severe restrictions on the people in general. The result was the electoral court issuing a decision to suspend its work and the schedule, until the "conditions were given to keep working towards election day".
At the moment, the court is preparing a suggestion of when the elections can take place, but the ultimate decision has to be taken at the national level.
Political Organizations
Bolivian politics, and especially elections, is characterized by the participation of few political parties, as defined in the West, and more political alliances, or as Bolivians call them, political organizations. For reasons considered already in prior posts in this blog, Bolivians regard all political parties taking part in Bolivian politics before the arrival of Evo Morales as "traditional parties". And, indeed, there is a difference. While in pre-Morales politics, there were many political parties, today the norm is constituted by alliances. Such alliances come together among the different interest groups and social organizations making up Bolivian society.
The above image shows all the organizations taking part this time around. These are (starting top left):
From this group, only ADN and the MAS can be considered, by some, political parties. Personally, I have to say, I have always contended that MAS was not a political party. But, that is material for another post.
The rest of the alliances, PAN-Bol, Creemos, CC, FPV, Juntos and Libertad y Democracia, are the result of alliances among different social organizations and interest groups around the country.
The ninth place is designated to indigenous peoples or nations, as they choose to be called. This part is composed of various indigenous groups aiming at some type of political independence and representation. These include:
The ballot will look like this:
The image is the result of a draw by which the order and location were selected, to avoid biases or complaints. No one has complained yet.
Candidates
The image above shows the latest official poll published on the electoral court's website. The survey took place in February 2020. In the image, you can read all the presidential and vice-presidential candidates up for election.
However, the race is basically between three candidates:
Carlos Mesa, from the CC; Luis Arce Catacora, from MAS (former Finance Minister) and current President, Janine Anez, from Juntos.
C. Mesa
Mesa is a former Vice-President (Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada) and President. In the past October 2019 elections, he was in second place and was set to go in a second-round against Morales. Mesa was very loud as the fraud was being investigated and played a leading role in calling to protests.
L. Arce Catacora
Arce Catacora was the Finance Minister under Morales. He served almost the whole Morales presidency, except for a couple of years due to illness. He is considered a very loyal MAS member and a capable politician. He is running together with the former Foreign Minister, David Choquehuanca. He is considered a radical indigenist.
J. Anez
Anez, is running for president even though she said she would not. Her bid for office did not start well, however many people around her have urged her to run. She is considered to be Christian conservative and, of course, she has no political history, which in Bolivia can be advantageous. One more problem she has is her running mate, Samuel Doria Medina. Doria is a millionaire and a politician who does have a long political history. He has been trying to get elected for many years, without success.
Who is not running
Evo Morales and Diego Pary, from MAS, were deemed ineligible by the electoral court to run for Senator seats because they do not live in Bolivia. Both want to challenge this decision still.
 |
| Source: Own Elaboration |
For now and for the sake of chronological order (in this blog), the focus of attention must fall on the events after the change of government until the arrival of the virus.
As noted in the prior post, the new Anez government had one, and only one, important task, i.e. the organization of new, credible, transparent, clean, general elections which were going to take place on May 3, 2020.
What happened since the arrival of the new Government
One of the first tasks was to rebuild the structures to be able, at all, to hold elections at the national level. The first step Anez took was to organize her government and to elect or choose a new team for the electoral court, the institution responsible for organizing the elections. To see who these people are, read the prior post. Of course, this was not enough, the Bolivian system is very similar to a federal system, so the electoral court has two more sub-levels at the departmental and the municipal levels. All of these posts needed to be filled with equally competent and experienced people.
Once the structure was re-built, the next step was to issue a so-called "summon for elections" (in Spanish, convocatoria a elecciones). This is a law stipulating, primarily, when the elections should take place, as well as, who gets elected, how long should it take, who is responsible for the organization, etc. The law was issued on November 24, 2019, and it was denominated Law No. 1266.
The next step was the responsibility of the newly designated electoral court. The members of this body, because they are more than one, are called in Bolivia, Vocales, which roughly translates into members (as in members of the Board of Directors). On January 5, 2020, the electoral court (more exactly, the board), issued the "electoral schedule". In it, you can find not only the day in which the elections would take place but also all other important deadlines, such as voter registration, party registration, complaints and challenges to decisions, the designation of the places in the ballot, the registration of media for the electoral campaign, who can carry out polls, within which period of time, etc. Actually, the schedule was progressing as published until the virus showed up. On March 22nd, the government declared a national health emergency, which meant severe restrictions on the people in general. The result was the electoral court issuing a decision to suspend its work and the schedule, until the "conditions were given to keep working towards election day".
At the moment, the court is preparing a suggestion of when the elections can take place, but the ultimate decision has to be taken at the national level.
Political Organizations
 |
| Source: Tribunal Supremo Electoral website |
Bolivian politics, and especially elections, is characterized by the participation of few political parties, as defined in the West, and more political alliances, or as Bolivians call them, political organizations. For reasons considered already in prior posts in this blog, Bolivians regard all political parties taking part in Bolivian politics before the arrival of Evo Morales as "traditional parties". And, indeed, there is a difference. While in pre-Morales politics, there were many political parties, today the norm is constituted by alliances. Such alliances come together among the different interest groups and social organizations making up Bolivian society.
The above image shows all the organizations taking part this time around. These are (starting top left):
- Accion Democratica Nacionalista - ADN
- Comunidad Ciudadana - CC
- Frente Para La Victoria - FPV
- Partido de Accion Nacional Boliviano - PAN-BOL
- Movimiento al Socialismo - MAS-IPSP
- Juntos
- Creemos
- Libertad y Democracia
From this group, only ADN and the MAS can be considered, by some, political parties. Personally, I have to say, I have always contended that MAS was not a political party. But, that is material for another post.
The rest of the alliances, PAN-Bol, Creemos, CC, FPV, Juntos and Libertad y Democracia, are the result of alliances among different social organizations and interest groups around the country.
The ninth place is designated to indigenous peoples or nations, as they choose to be called. This part is composed of various indigenous groups aiming at some type of political independence and representation. These include:
- Asamblea del Pueblo Guarani - APG
- Consejo Nacional de Ayllus y Marcas del Qullasuyo - CONAMAQ
- Central de Pueblos Etnicos Moxenos del Beni - CPEM-B
- Concejo Indigena Yuqui Bia Recuate Cochabamba - Yuqui Bia Recuate
- Organizacion de Capitanias Weenhayek de Tarija - ORCAWETA
- Organizacion Indigena Chiquitana - OICH
- YAMINAWA Pando
The ballot will look like this:
 |
| Source: Tribunal Supremo Electoral website |
Candidates
 |
| Source: Tribunal Supremo Electoral website |
However, the race is basically between three candidates:
 |
| Source: Wikipedia, own creation |
C. Mesa
Mesa is a former Vice-President (Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada) and President. In the past October 2019 elections, he was in second place and was set to go in a second-round against Morales. Mesa was very loud as the fraud was being investigated and played a leading role in calling to protests.
L. Arce Catacora
Arce Catacora was the Finance Minister under Morales. He served almost the whole Morales presidency, except for a couple of years due to illness. He is considered a very loyal MAS member and a capable politician. He is running together with the former Foreign Minister, David Choquehuanca. He is considered a radical indigenist.
J. Anez
Anez, is running for president even though she said she would not. Her bid for office did not start well, however many people around her have urged her to run. She is considered to be Christian conservative and, of course, she has no political history, which in Bolivia can be advantageous. One more problem she has is her running mate, Samuel Doria Medina. Doria is a millionaire and a politician who does have a long political history. He has been trying to get elected for many years, without success.
Who is not running
Evo Morales and Diego Pary, from MAS, were deemed ineligible by the electoral court to run for Senator seats because they do not live in Bolivia. Both want to challenge this decision still.
