This article needs to be updated.(March 2021) |
Boliviaportal |
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. [1]
The Bolivian Civil War between the Conservatives and the Liberals ended in 1899 with the latter's victory; a liberal era began that lasted until 1920. A system of public education developed, accompanied by moderate anticlericalism: Catholicism lost its status as the only religion recognized by the State in 1906 and civil marriage was adopted in 1911. Bolivian liberalism, however, clearly lost its progressive character to coexist with the interests of the new tin fortunes (the liberal era is sometimes also considered to be the tin era, with tin production having increased considerably), landowners and the army. Inspired by the example of the Ecuadorian Liberal Revolution of 1895 led by Eloy Alfaro, a new liberalism organized itself into a republican party and expressed some social concerns against the domination of the liberal oligarchy. [2]
Bolivia's current constitution [3] was adopted via referendum in 2009, providing for a unitary secular state.
The president is directly elected to a five-year term by popular vote. A candidate needs either an absolute majority or 40% and a 10-point lead to win the election. In the case that no candidate is elected in the first vote, a run-off vote elects the president from among the two candidates most voted in the first vote. [4]
Hugo Banzer was elected president in 1997. Although no candidate had received more than 50% of the popular vote in the national election, Banzer won a congressional runoff election on 5 August 1997 after forming the so-called "megacoalition" with other parties. He resigned in August 2001 and was substituted by his vice president Jorge Quiroga. In August 2002, the winner of the national election Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada was chosen president by Congress, winning an 84–43 vote against popular vote runner-up Evo Morales. Elected president Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada resigned in October 2003, and was substituted by vice-president Carlos Mesa who governed the nation until his resignation in June 2005. He was replaced by chief justice of the Supreme Court Eduardo Rodríguez, acting as caretaker president. Six months later, on December 18, 2005, cocalero leader Evo Morales was elected president.
A group of MEPs acting as election observers oversaw a constitutional referendum in Bolivia that gave more power to indigenous peoples 25 January 2009. The tightly fought referendum laid out a number of key reforms such as allowing President Evo Morales to stand for re-election, state control over natural gas and limits on the size of land people can own.
Portfolio | Minister | Party | Prof. | Took office | Left office | Term | Ref. | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
President | Luis Arce | MAS | Eco. | 8 November 2020 | Incumbent | 1,447 | [5] | |
Vice President | David Choquehuanca | MAS | Dip. | 8 November 2020 | Incumbent | 1,447 | ||
Minister of Foreign Affairs | Rogelio Mayta | MAS | Law. | 9 November 2020 | Incumbent | 1,446 | [6] [7] | |
Minister of the Presidency | María Nela Prada | MAS | Dip. | 9 November 2020 | Incumbent | 1,446 | [6] [8] | |
Minister of Government | Eduardo del Castillo | MAS | Law. | 9 November 2020 | Incumbent | 1,446 | [6] [9] | |
Minister of Defense | Edmundo Novillo | MAS | Law. | 9 November 2020 | Incumbent | 1,446 | [6] [10] | |
Minister of Development Planning | Gabriela Mendoza | MAS | Eco. | 9 November 2020 | Incumbent | 1,446 | [6] [11] | |
Minister of Economy and Public Finance | Marcelo Montenegro | MAS | Eco. | 9 November 2020 | Incumbent | 1,446 | [6] [12] | |
Minister of Hydrocarbons | Franklin Molina Ortiz | MAS | Eco. | 9 November 2020 | 19 November 2020 | 1,446 | [6] [13] | |
Minister of Hydrocarbons and Energies | 19 November 2020 | Incumbent | [14] | |||||
Minister of Productive Development and the Plural Economy | Néstor Huanca Chura | MAS | Eco. | 9 November 2020 | Incumbent | 1,446 | [6] [15] | |
Minister of Public Works, Services, and Housing | Edgar Montaño | MAS | Eng. | 9 November 2020 | Incumbent | 1,446 | [6] [16] | |
Minister of Mining and Metallurgy | Ramiro Villavicencio | MAS | Eng. | 9 November 2020 | Incumbent | 1,446 | [6] [17] | |
Minister of Justice and Institutional Transparency | Iván Lima | MAS | Law. | 9 November 2020 | Incumbent | 1,446 | [6] [18] | |
Minister of Labor, Employment, and Social Security | Verónica Navia Tejada | MAS | Soc. | 9 November 2020 | Incumbent | 1,446 | [6] | |
Minister of Health | Édgar Pozo | MAS | Dr. | 9 November 2020 | 19 November 2020 | 68 | [6] | |
Minister of Health and Sports | 19 November 2020 | 16 January 2021 | [14] | |||||
Jeyson Auza | MAS | Dr. | 16 January 2021 | Incumbent | 1,378 | [19] [20] | ||
Minister of Environment and Water | Juan Santos Cruz | MAS | Uni. | 9 November 2020 | Incumbent | 1,446 | [6] [21] | |
Minister of Education, Sports, and Cultures | Adrián Quelca | PCB | Prof. | 9 November 2020 | 19 November 2020 | 368 | [6] [22] | |
Minister of Education | 19 November 2020 | 12 November 2021 | [14] | |||||
Office vacant 12–19 November 2021 | 7 | [23] [lower-alpha 1] | ||||||
Edgar Pary | MAS | Prof. | 19 November 2021 | Incumbent | 1,071 | [25] [26] | ||
Minister of Rural Development and Land | Wilson Cáceres | MAS | Uni. | 9 November 2020 | 1 December 2020 | 22 | [6] | |
Edwin Characayo | MAS | Agr. | 1 December 2020 | 14 April 2021 | 134 | [27] [28] | ||
Office vacant 14–20 April 2021 | 6 | [29] [30] | ||||||
Remmy Gonzáles | MAS | Eng. | 20 April 2021 | Incumbent | 1,284 | [31] [32] | ||
Ministry of Cultures, Decolonization and Depatriarchalization | Office vacant 13–20 November 2020 | 7 | [33] | |||||
Sabina Orellana | MAS | Uni. | 20 November 2020 | Incumbent | 1,435 | [34] [35] | ||
Minister of Energies | Office vacant 9–12 November 2020 | 3 | [36] | |||||
Franklin Molina Ortiz [lower-alpha 2] | MAS | Eco. | 12 November 2020 | 19 November 2020 | 7 | |||
Office merged with the Ministry of Hydrocarbons | [14] |
Bolivia currently has twenty-one ministries in the executive branch. The heads of these ministries form the cabinet.
The bicameral Plurinational Legislative Assembly consists of the Chamber of Senators (36 seats; members are elected by proportional representation from party lists to serve five-year terms) and the Chamber of Deputies (130 seats; 70 are directly elected from their districts, 63 are elected by proportional representation from party lists, and 7 are elected by indigenous peoples of most departments, to serve five-year terms).
The judiciary consists of the Supreme Court of Justice, the Plurinational Constitutional Court, the Judiciary Council, Agrarian and Environmental Court, and District (departmental) and lower courts.
In October 2011, Bolivia held its first judicial elections to choose members of the national courts by popular vote. Twenty-eight elected members and twenty-eight alternates were sworn in on 3 January 2011 in Sucre.
The members of the Plurinational Constitutional Court, elected in October 2011, are: Ligia Velásquez, Mirtha Camacho, Melvy Andrade, Zoraida Chanes, Gualberto Cusi, Efraín Choque, and Ruddy Flores. The elected alternate members are: Isabel Ortuño, Lidia Chipana, Mario Pacosillo, Katia López, Javier Aramayo, Miriam Pacheco, and Rommy Colque. [37]
The members of the Supreme Court of Justice, elected in October 2011, are: Maritza Suntura (La Paz Department), Jorge Isaac Von Borries Méndez (Santa Cruz), Rómulo Calle Mamani (Oruro), Pastor Segundo Mamani Villca (Potosí), Antonio Guido Campero Segovia (Tarija), Gonzalo Miguel Hurtado Zamorano (Beni), Fidel Marcos Tordoya Rivas (Cochabamba), Rita Susana Nava (Tarija), and Norka Natalia Mercado Guzmán (Pando). [37] The elected alternate members are: William Alave (La Paz), María Arminda Ríos García (Santa Cruz), Ana Adela Quispe Cuba (Oruro), Elisa Sánchez Mamani (Potosí), Carmen Núñez Villegas (Tarija), Silvana Rojas Panoso (Beni), María Lourdes Bustamante (Cochabamba), Javier Medardo Serrano (Tarija), and Delfín Humberto Betancour Chinchilla (Pando). [37] Gonzalo Miguel Hurtado Zamorano was elected President of the Court on 3 January 2012.
The Supreme Court of Justice replaces the Supreme Court, active since Bolivia's founding in 1825.
The members of the Judiciary Council, elected in October 2011, are (in order of total votes received): Cristina Mamani, Freddy Sanabria, Wilma Mamani, Roger Triveño, and Ernesto Araníbar. [38] Cristina Mamani was elected by her peers as the first president of the Judiciary Council on 4 January 2012. [39]
The members of the Agro-environmental Court, elected in October 2011, are (in order of total votes received): Bernardo Huarachi, Deysi Villagómez, Gabriela Armijo Paz, Javier Peñafiel, Juan Ricardo Soto, Lucio Fuentes, and Yola Paucara. The elected alternate members are: Isabel Ortuño, Lidia Chipana, Mario Pacosillo, Katia López, Javier Aramayo, Miriam Pacheco, and Rommy Colque. [38]
The electoral branch of Bolivia's government, formally the Plurinational Electoral Organ, is an independent branch of government which replaced the National Electoral Court in 2010. The branch consists of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, the nine Departmental Electoral Tribunals, Electoral Judges, the anonymously selected Juries at Election Tables, and Electoral Notaries. [40] Wilfredo Ovando presides over the seven-member Supreme Electoral Tribunal. Its operations are mandated by the Constitution and regulated by the Electoral Regime Law (Law 026, passed 2010). The Organ's first elections will be the country's first judicial election in October 2011 and five municipal special elections expected to be held in 2011.
Bolivia is divided into nine departments (departamentos, singular – departamento); Chuquisaca, Cochabamba, Beni, La Paz, Oruro, Pando, Potosi, Santa Cruz, Tarija. Bolivia's nine departments received greater autonomy under the Administrative Decentralization law of 1995. Departmental autonomy further increased with the first popular elections for departmental governors, known as prefects, on 18 December 2005. Departments are governed by the elected governors (until 2010, prefects; and until 2005, appointed by the President) and by independently elected Departmental Legislative Assemblies (until 2010; Departmental Councils).
Bolivian cities and towns are governed by directly elected mayors and councils. Municipal elections were last held on 4 April 2010, with both mayors councils elected to five-year terms. The Popular Participation Law of April 1994, which distributes a significant portion of national revenues to municipalities for discretionary use, has enabled previously neglected communities to make striking improvements in their facilities and services.
The governing Movement for Socialism (Movimiento al Socialismo, MAS) is a Left-wing, Socialist political party led by Evo Morales, founded in 1997. It has governed the country since 2006, following the first ever majority victory by a single party in the December 2005 elections. MAS evolved out of the movement to defend the interests of coca growers. Currently, the MAS stands as a party committed to equality, indigenous rights, agrarian land reform, Constitutional reform as well as nationalization of key industries with an aim to redistribute the returns through increased social spending. Among the poor, rural and indigenous population the MAS enjoys nearly unanimous support.
The right-of-center opposition includes a variety of political parties. During the 2005–09 political cycle the largest of these was PODEMOS , a successor to Nationalist Democratic Action. In the 2009 elections, several parties and politicians united to form Plan Progreso para Bolivia – Convergencia Nacional , whose presidential candidate, Manfred Reyes Villa and parliamentary slate came in second in the 2009 elections.
Three political parties were dominant from 1982 to 2005: The Revolutionary Nationalist Movement which had carried out the 1952 Revolution; Revolutionary Left Movement; and Nationalist Democratic Action founded in 1982 by former dictator and later elected President Hugo Banzer. [41] Despite the revolutionary names of the first two, they generally pursued centrist economic policies.
Other parties include:
Some of Bolivia's social movements are:
International organization participation:
ALBA, CAN, CELAC, FAO, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO (correspondent), ITU, LAES, LAIA, Mercosur (associate), MIGA, MINUSTAH, MONUC, NAM, OAS, ONUB, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, RG, UN, UNAMSIL, UNASUR, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMIK, UNMIL, UNMISET, UNOCI, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO
José Miguel de Velasco Franco was a Bolivian military officer and statesman who served as the fourth president of Bolivia on four occasions: 1828, 1829, 1839–1841, and 1848. Velasco also served as the second vice president from 1829 to 1835 under Andrés de Santa Cruz, though the first two of his terms were as vice president-designate, pending Santa Cruz's arrival to the country.
Council of Ministers of Bolivia, or Cabinet of Bolivia, is part of the executive branch of the Bolivian government, consisting of the heads of the variable number of government ministries. The Council of Ministers are ministers of state and conduct the day-to-day business of public administration within Bolivia. The President of Bolivia may freely reorganize the executive branch, with the most recent comprehensive reorganization occurring in February 2009. Since then, the Ministry for the Legal Defense of the State has become the independent office of Solicitor General, and the Ministry of Communication has been created.
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.
Luis Fernando López Julio is a Bolivian businessman, retired military officer, and politician who served as minister of defense from 2019 to 2020. Appointed in the tail end of the 2019 political crisis, López, along with Minister of Government Arturo Murillo, quickly became characterized as the "strong men" of the Jeanine Áñez administration and were implicated in the deadly events at Senkata and Sacaba. López was called to hearings by the Plurinational Legislative Assembly but failed to present himself three consecutive times, ultimately resulting in his censure by the legislature. As per the terms of the Constitution, he was dismissed as minister but, exploiting a loophole in the document's text, he was reappointed just a day later. Soon after, reports revealed his participation in the tear gas case, which accused the ministries of government and defense of irregularly purchasing non-lethal weapons at inflated prices.
The Arce Cabinet constitutes the 222nd cabinet of the Plurinational State of Bolivia. It was formed on 9 November 2020, one day after Luis Arce was sworn in as the 67th president of Bolivia following the 2020 general election, succeeding the Áñez Cabinet. The cabinet is composed entirely of members of the ruling Movement for Socialism. Described as a "technocratic" cabinet, it has been noted for the low-profile and youth of some of its members as well as its political distance from former president Evo Morales.
The Ministry of the Presidency is the department of the Government of Bolivia that provides support to the presidential administration by coordinating its political-administrative actions with the different ministries as well as the legislative, judicial, and electoral branches of government in addition to social sectors and cooperatives. Aside from these tasks, the ministry acts as the chief custodian of the government, filing all laws, decrees, and resolutions and publishing them in the Official Gazette of Bolivia.
The cabinet of Jeanine Áñez constituted the 220th and 221st cabinets of the Plurinational State of Bolivia. It was initially formed on 13 November 2019, a day after Jeanine Áñez was sworn-in as the 66th president of Bolivia following the 2019 political crisis, in which the ruling Movement for Socialism government resigned. A second cabinet was formed on 28 January 2020 with all but three ministers being ratified in their positions.
The Cabinet of Evo Morales constituted the 210th to 220th cabinets of the Plurinational State of Bolivia. It was initially formed on 23 January 2006, a day after Evo Morales was sworn-in as the 65th president of Bolivia.
The Velasco III Cabinet constituted the 10th and 11th cabinets of the Bolivian Republic. It was formed on 27 March 1839, thirty-three days after José Miguel de Velasco was reinstalled as the 4th president of Bolivia following a coup d'état, succeeding the Santa Cruz Cabinet. It was dissolved on 10 June 1841 upon Velasco's overthrow in another coup d'état and was succeeded by the Cabinet of José Ballivián.
The Ballivián Cabinet, which comprised the 12th to 14th cabinets of the Bolivian Republic, came into being on October 18, 1841. This was 21 days after José Ballivián assumed office as the 9th president of Bolivia, following a coup d'état that saw him take over from the Third Velasco Cabinet. The cabinet continued to serve until December 23, 1847, when Ballivián resigned from office, and it was subsequently dissolved. Cabinet of Eusebio Guilarte succeeded the Ballivián Cabinet.
The Velasco IV Cabinet constituted the 16th cabinet of the Bolivian Republic. It was formed on 4 February 1848, 17 days after José Miguel de Velasco was reinstalled) as the 4th president of Bolivia following a coup d'état, succeeding the Guilarte Cabinet. It was dissolved on 16 October 1848 when acting president José María Linares merged all ministerial portfolios into a singular General Secretariat and was succeeded by the Cabinet of Manuel Isidoro Belzu.
The Belzu Cabinet constituted the 17th to 22nd cabinets of the Bolivian Republic. It was formed on 10 February 1849, 66 days after Manuel Isidoro Belzu was installed as the 11th president of Bolivia following a coup d'état, succeeding the Fourth Velasco Cabinet. It was dissolved on 15 August 1855 upon the end of Belzu's term and was succeeded by the Cabinet of Jorge Córdova.
The Achá Cabinet constituted the 26th to 29th cabinets of the Bolivian Republic. It was formed on 17 May 1861, 13 days after José María de Achá was sworn-in as the 14th president of Bolivia following his election by the Constituent National Assembly, succeeding the Government Junta. It was dissolved on 28 December 1864 upon Achá's overthrow in a coup d'état and was succeeded by the Cabinet of Mariano Melgarejo.
The Morales Cabinet constituted the 31st to 32nd cabinets of the Republic of Bolivia. It was formed on 22 June 1871 after Agustín Morales took power in a coup d'état, succeeding the Melgarejo cabinet. It was dissolved on 27 November 1872 when Morales was assassinated. All Ministers of State were ratified in their positions by the new cabinet formed by Morales' successor Tomás Frías.
Events in the year 1825 in Bolivia. This year is celebrated in Bolivia as the official beginning of the nation, with the Declaration of Independence issued on 6 August.
Events in the year 1826 in Bolivia. The 1826 Constitution, the first constitution of Bolivia, was promulgated in November of this year.
Events in the year 1828 in Bolivia.
The Ballivián Cabinet constituted the 34th cabinet of the Republic of Bolivia. It was formed on 9 May 1873 after Adolfo Ballivián was sworn in as the 18th president of Bolivia following the 1873 general election, succeeding the First Frías Cabinet. It was dissolved on 14 February 1874 upon Ballivián's death and was succeeded by the Cabinet of Tomás Frías II.