Despite its fanfare, Bolivia’s new constitution (CPE) actually introduces only limited changes to the basic structure of Bolivia’s political system. Yes, the new CPE approved by voters a few weeks ago continues the tradition (since the 1994 CPE) of multiculturalism, participation, and decentralization. Here, however, I want to focus on the few minor changes to the legislature.
The legislature’s structure is laid out in Part Two, Title I (Articles 145-164). Most of this section deals w/ the specific powers of the legislature, which has been renamed the “Plurinational Legislative Assembly.” But the basic structure remains the same: a bicameral legislature comprised of a Chamber of Deputies and a Senate.
The number of deputies remains the same: 130 members, apportioned to the departments on the basis of their population. Roughly half of the deputies will be elected from “uninominal” (single-member) districts; the other half will be elected from party lists. In other words, Bolivia retains its MMP electoral system.
There has been much discussion about the introduction of new indigenous “special” seats in the legislature. Not quite. The indigenous seats must come from the 130 total, are limited to “rural” districts, and must be contained w/in a department. Since most indigenous candidates/parties come from rural districts in places like La Paz, this seems unlikely to change. It is possible, however, that places like Santa Cruz could see a number of rural districts carved up to represent small indigenous communities, at the expense of non-indigenous representation. This, however, seems unlikely.
The one significant change is in the Senate. Whereas previously each department had only three seats, each now has four. The exact formula for deciding how parties win seats in a 4-member district remain to be determined (thought it’s supposed to be a “proportional” formula). But what is clear is that Media Luna departments will become even more disproportionately overrepresented in the legislature.
What we have then, in the new “Plurinational Legislative Assembly” is basically just a name change. Rural SMDs were already de facto “indigenous” seats; now that is merely recognized officially. On the other hand, the size of the Senate increases, giving slightly more weight to eastern departments.
One of the original MAS proposals called for a unicameral, all-SMD legislature, w/ additional “special” seats for each of the country’s indigenous communities. If anything, the new legislature actually offers significant protections to established interests. Interesting.
