The politics of Bolivia takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the president is head of state, head of government and head of a diverse multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament. Both the Judiciary and the electoral branch are independent of the executive and the legislature. After the 2014 Bolivian general election, 53.1% of the seats in national parliament were held by women, a higher proportion of women than that of the population.
The president of Bolivia, officially known as the president of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is head of state and head of government of Bolivia and the captain general of the Armed Forces of Bolivia.
Gonzalo Daniel Sánchez de Lozada Sánchez Bustamante, often referred to as Goni, is a Bolivian businessman and politician who served as the 61st president of Bolivia from 1993 to 1997 and from 2002 to 2003. A member of the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement (MNR), he previously served as minister of planning and coordination under Víctor Paz Estenssoro and succeeded him as the MNR's national chief in 1990.
Juan Evo Morales Ayma is a Bolivian politician, trade union organizer, and former cocalero activist who served as the 65th president of Bolivia from 2006 to 2019. Widely regarded as the country's first president to come from its indigenous population, his administration worked towards the implementation of left-wing policies, focusing on the legal protections and socioeconomic conditions of Bolivia's previously marginalized indigenous population and combating the political influence of the United States and resource-extracting multinational corporations. Ideologically a socialist, he has led the Movement for Socialism (MAS) party since 1998.
The Bolivian Palace of Government, better known as Palacio Quemado, was the official residence of the President of Bolivia from 1853 to 2018 and again briefly from 2019 to 2020. It is located in downtown La Paz on Plaza Murillo, next to the La Paz Cathedral and across from the Bolivian legislature. On 9 August 2018, it was replaced by the Casa Grande del Pueblo as the residence of the president by President Evo Morales. The interim government of Jeanine Áñez briefly reverted to occupying the Palacio Quemado from 2019 until 2020 when the newly elected Luis Arce returned to using the Casa Grande. It now serves as a museum.
Gualberto Vega Yapura was a Bolivian trade unionist. Vega Yapura was the head of the FSTMB miners' union.
The Plurinational Electoral Organ is the independent electoral branch of the government of Bolivia. It replaced the National Electoral Court in 2010.
The Ministry of Cultures, Decolonization, and Depatriarchalization is the ministry of the government of Bolivia that provides for the preservation and protection of the cultures and artistic expressions of the indigenous peoples of Bolivia as well as promotes the country's tourism sector and process of decolonization and depatriarchalization.
The Social Democratic Movement, often shortened to just the Democrats, is a centre-right political party in Bolivia founded in 2013 for the movement for greater autonomy for the eastern departments of the Media Luna.
Esther Morales Ayma de Willacarani was a Bolivian grocer, small businessperson and public figure. In 2006, she was designated to the role of First Lady of Bolivia by her younger brother, then-President of Bolivia Evo Morales, who was unmarried.
Bolivia–Mexico relations are the diplomatic relations between the Plurinational State of Bolivia and the United Mexican States. Both nations are members of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, Latin American Integration Association, Organization of American States, Organization of Ibero-American States and the United Nations. There is a community of approximately 10,000 Mexican citizens residing in Bolivia.
Antonia Wilma Alanoca Mamani is a Bolivian journalist, politician, and television presenter who served as minister of cultures and tourism from 2017 to 2019. A member of the Movement for Socialism, she previously served an El Alto municipal councilor from 2015 to 2017, a position she returned to in 2021.
A political crisis occurred in Bolivia on 10 November 2019, after 21 days of civil protests following the disputed 2019 Bolivian general election in which incumbent President Evo Morales was initially declared the winner. The elections took place after a referendum to amend the Bolivian constitution, which limits the number of terms to two, was rejected in 2016. In 2017 under political pressure and a legal demand from the Morales government, the Constitutional Tribunal (TCP) ruled that all public offices would have no term limits despite what was established in the constitution and allowing Evo Morales to run for a fourth term.
The flag of the patujú flower is a flag used in official acts of the Bolivia government, which shows Bolivia's national flower. The latter represents the indigenous peoples of Eastern Bolivia and has been used as a symbol of protest by the opponents of Evo Morales in that area of the country.
The 2021 Bolivian regional elections were held on 7 March 2021. Departmental and municipal authorities were elected by an electorate of approximately 7 million people. This was the third regional election under the 2009 constitution. It was postponed from the expected date of 2020 due to the 2019 Bolivian political crisis and delays in holding the 2020 Bolivian general election. All elected authorities assumed office on 3 May.
The 2022 Bolivian ombudsman election took place between 15 March and 23 September 2022 during the term of the 3rd Plurinational Legislative Assembly. This unusual intra-term election for ombudsman of Bolivia was necessitated by the resignation of David Tezanos Pinto on 24 January 2019, leaving Nadia Cruz as the acting authority for more than three years, even exceeding the expiration of Tezanos Pinto's originally set six-year term. This was the sixth ombudsman election since the office was created in 1997. Constitutional lawyer Pedro Callisaya won the contest, receiving ninety-five votes, a two-thirds majority of those present but not of the total membership of both legislative chambers. Callisaya's election was supported only by the ruling Movement for Socialism, while the two opposition blocs boycotted the vote.
The 2003 La Paz riots, commonly referred to as Black February, was a period of civil unrest in La Paz, Bolivia, that took place between 12 and 13 February 2003. The riots were instigated by the imposition of a progressive salary tax—dubbed the impuestazo—aimed at meeting the International Monetary Fund's goal of reducing the country's fiscal deficit from 8.7% of GDP to 5.5%. The legislation mobilized a diverse array of groups against the proposal, including business sectors, trade unions, and university students.
Martha Yujra Apaza is a Bolivian politician and trade unionist who served as minister of cultures and tourism from 2019 to 2020. A prominent trade union leader in El Alto, Yujra was the only indigenous member of the Jeanine Áñez Cabinet and was the final official to head the Ministry of Cultures and Tourism; the institution was abolished during her term. During her tenure, Yujra's office primarily dealt with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the cultural sector, devising means of alleviating the economic ramifications of quarantine measures on artisans and entertainers. She subsequently served as a counselor at the Embassy of Bolivia in Quito from July to November 2020. Prior to serving as minister, Yujra gained notoriety for her fierce opposition to the government of Evo Morales. In 2017, she led a breakaway faction of the pro-government El Alto Regional Workers' Center. As its executive secretary, Yujra aligned the union with the Bolivia Says No alliance, running unsuccessfully to represent La Paz in the Chamber of Deputies in the annulled 2019 general elections.
Freddy Mamani Laura is a Bolivian educator, politician, and trade unionist who served as president of the Chamber of Deputies from 2020 to 2022. A member of the Movement for Socialism, he has served as a party-list member of the Chamber of Deputies from La Paz since 2020. He previously served as executive secretary of the National Confederation of Rural Teachers of Bolivia and as departmental executive of the Federation of Rural Teachers of La Paz. Prior to entering politics, Mamani worked as a teacher, serving as the principal of various rural schools in the department.
The following is a chronology of notable events from the year 2023 in Bolivia.
