This Sunday Bolivians will go to the polls, yet again. This time it's for "local" (municipal) & "regional" (departmental) elections. The elections are a remarkable first for the country. Municipal elections were introduced in 1994, laying the foundation for a new decentralized Bolivian state. The 2009 constitution also recognized departmental (and subdepartmental) autonomy, laying the foundation for further decentralization (in fact, a "federalization" of the country).
The regional elections are the most interesting. In each of Bolivia's nine departments, voters will go to the polls to elect a "governor" (they will no longer be called "prefects") & a regional legislative assembly. This is a vast improvement from December 2005, when voters had a chance to popularly elect prefects as part of a compromise to the appease media luna regionalist movement. Why is this an improvement? In 2005, prefects were elected in first-past-the-post (FPTP) electoral contests. Many won w/ mere pluralities, rather than majorities. In addition, there were no departmental assemblies, which meant prefects were quite literally winner-take-all contests. Since then, political conflict in Bolivia has been primarily driven by struggles between Evo (and his government) & opposition prefects.
This Sunday's elections will resolve much of that tension--even while introducing new ones. Governors will now need to win an absolute majority of votes (there will be runoff elections if no candidate wins a majority). Governors will also be backed by legislative assemblies, which will be elected on the same day, using a variety of electoral mechanisms. This means that the newly-autonomous governments (which include all nine departments now) will have an executive & a legislature, both elected similarly to the national executive & legislature. Moreover, each department's specific government structure will vary somewhat (e.g. in Beni voters will also elect sub-governors & corregidores), meaning they will not be uniformly defined by the central state (though they must meet some parameters established in the 2009 Constitution). Essentially, Bolivia's state will become "federalized" (even if the constitution still declares the country a "unitary state").
The new tensions emerge because starting w/ the new "governors," the Bolivian president will no longer be able to sack opposition prefects. Prior constitutions made prefects presidential appointees (as in other unitary states, e.g. France). It's noteworthy that, despite the conflicts w/ opposition prefects, Evo has chosen not to exercise his constitutional authority to simply replace them (although this is probably the product of a careful political calculus of the potential costs of just such a move).
Each of the nine departmental legislature will be elected differently. Here's a breakdown:
Beni: Each province receives 3 seats; they will be awarded as follows: 2 seats to the party w/ the most votes, 1 seat to the runner up. Additionally, there are 2 special at-large indigenous seats & 2 special at-large "campesino" seats; they will be elected based on "customs"--meaning, whatever organization(s) dominate(s) will name the winners. The legislature will have a total of 28 seats.
Tarija: Tarija's legislature will represent both provinces & population. Each province receives 1 seat, Cercado (the province w/ the city of Tarija) & Entre Ríos will each receive an additional seat, for a total of 12 seats. Additionally, another 15 seats are awarded based on municipal population; the city of Tarija gets 5 seats, Yacuiba & Bermejo each get 2 seats, six other municipalities get 1 seat, and two municipalities get zero seats. Finally, 3 seats are awarded at-large to indigeous communities; these will be elected based on "customs." Tarija's legislature will have a total of 30 seats.
Pando: Pando's legislature is the simplest. Each municipality is awarded 1 seat, and there is 1 at-large indigenous seat. This gives Pando a legislative assembly of 16 seats.
Santa Cruz: There are 8 department-wide seats awarded using PR. There are 15 provincial seats awarded (one for each province) elected using FPTP. Finally, there are 5 at-large indigenous seats elected by "customs." This makes for 28 total seats in the Santa Cruz representative assembly.
Chuquisaca: There are 9 department-wide seats awarded using PR. There are 10 provincial seats (one for each province) elected using FPTP. Finally, there are 2 at-large indigenous seats elected by "customs." This gives Chuquisaca's legislature 21 seats.
La Paz: At 45 seats, this is the largest departmental representative assembly. There are 20 provincial seats (one for each province) elected using FPTP. There are another 20 at-large seats awarded using PR. Finally, there are 5 at-large indigenous seats elected by "customs."
Cochabamba: There are 16 at-large seats awarded sing PR & another 16 provincial seats (one for each province) elected using FPTP. Then there are 2 at-large indigenous seats elected by "customs." This makes Cochabamba's legislature 34 seats in size.
Oruro: Oruro's legislative assembly is exactly like Cochabamba's, except for a twiset: > There are 16 at-large seats awarded sing PR & another 16 provincial seats (one for each province) elected using FPTP. The 2 at-large indigenous seats elected by "customs" must have gender parity (1 male, 1 female). Oruro's legislature also has 34 seats.
Potosí: Potosí's assembly has the same composition as Cochabamba & Oruro (16 at-large seats, 16 provincial seats), but no special indigenous seats. This makes Potos´'s legislature 32 seats in size.
In addition, there will be a special "regional" election for the newly-autonomous region of Chaco (the eastern portion of Tarija department). That election will see a local assembly (but no executive) charged with drafting a new autonomy statute (essentially, a constitutional charter). That assembly will be elected in the following manner: 2 seats from each of the three municipalities (Caraparí, Yacuiba, Villamontes) elected using PR (please don't ask me to explain how a two-seat contest can be determined using PR) plus another 3 seats for each of the region's three indigenous communities (Guaraní, Weenhayet, Tapiete) chosen by "custom." That makes Gran Chaco's assembly 9 seats large.
More on the actual contestants in a day or two. I'm particularly interested in the elections in La Paz (both at the gubernatorial/assembly level plus the municipal elections in La Paz & El Alto) & the contests in Santa Cruz (gubernatorial & municipal). Stay tuned.
2Good post. I very interested in the article.jeans true religion
I do go for voting to the local elections. The breakdown is really well explained. I don't understand much about this stuff but it is really important for the country and the people.
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The election stuff is a bit difficult to understand. Lost of people stand for one post. Also it is difficult to elect one amongst them. Thanks for the post. It really helped me a lot to understand the Election system in Bolivia.
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