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Plurinational Legislative Assembly

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(Redirected from Bolivian Congress) National legislature of Bolivia

16°29′46″S 68°07′59″W / 16.49611°S 68.13306°W / -16.49611; -68.13306

Plurinational Legislative Assembly
Asamblea Legislativa Plurinacional
Coat of arms or logo
Type
TypeBicameral
HousesChamber of Senators,
Chamber of Deputies
History
Founded1825 unicameral, 1831 bicameral
Leadership
President of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly (ex oficio as Vice President)David Choquehuanca, MAS
since 8 November 2020
President of the SenateAndrónico Rodríguez, MAS
since 4 November 2020
President of the Chamber of DeputiesIsrael Huaytari Martínez, MAS
since 3 November 2023
Structure
Seats166
36 Senators
130 Deputies
Chamber of Senators political groupsGovernment (21):

  MAS-IPSP (21)

Opposition (15):
  Civic Community (11)

  Creemos (4)
Chamber of Deputies political groupsGovernment (75):

  MAS-IPSP (75)

Opposition (55):
  Civic Community (39)

  Creemos (PDC–UCS) (16)
Elections
Chamber of Senators voting systemParty-list proportional representation
Chamber of Deputies voting systemSeat linkage mixed compensatory mixed system (MMP)
Last Chamber of Senators election18 October 2020
Last Chamber of Deputies election18 October 2020
Next Chamber of Senators election2025
Next Chamber of Deputies election2025
Meeting place
New headquarters of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly
La Paz, Bolivia
Website
https://web.senado.gob.bo/
http://www.diputados.bo
Politics of Bolivia
Constitution
Executive
Legislative
Judiciary
Elections
Administrative divisions
Foreign relations
flag Bolivia portal

The Plurinational Legislative Assembly (Spanish: Asamblea Legislativa Plurinacional) is the national legislature of Bolivia, placed in La Paz, the country's seat of government.

The assembly is bicameral, consisting of a lower house (the Chamber of Deputies or Cámara de Diputados) and an upper house (the Chamber of Senators, or Cámara de Senadores). The Vice President of Bolivia also serves as the ex officio President of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly. Each house elects its own directorate: a President, first and second Vice Presidents, and three or four Secretaries (for the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, respectively). Each party is said to have a seat (Spanish: bancada) consisting of its legislators. The representatives of each department comprise a brigade (brigada). Each house considers legislation in standing committees.

The Chamber of Senators has 36 seats. Each of the country's nine departments returns four senators elected by proportional representation (using the D'Hondt method). (From 1985 to 2009, the Senate had 27 seats: three seats per department: two from the party or formula that receives the most votes, with the third senator representing the second-placed party.) Senators are elected from party lists to serve five-year terms, and the minimum age to hold a Senate seat is 35 years.

The Chamber of Deputies comprises 130 seats, elected using a seat linkage based mixed compensatory system (for mixed-member proportional representation): 70 deputies are elected to represent single-member electoral districts, 7 of which are Indigenous or Campesino seats elected by the usos y costumbres of minority groups, 60 are elected from party lists on a departmental basis. Deputies also serve five-year terms, and must be aged at least 25 on the day of the election. Party lists are required to alternate between men and women, and in the single-member districts, men are required to run with a female alternate, and vice versa. At least 50% of the deputies from single-member districts are required to be women.

Both the Chamber of Senators, and the proportional part of the Chamber of Deputies is elected based on the vote for the presidential candidates, while the deputies from the single-member districts are elected separately.

The legislative body was formerly known as the National Congress (Spanish: Congreso Nacional).

2020–2025 Congress

Main article: Current members of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly
PartyPresidential candidateVotes%Seats
Chamber+/–Senate+/–
Movement for SocialismLuis Arce3,393,97855.1075+8210
Civic CommunityCarlos Mesa1,775,94328.8339–1111–3
CreemosLuis Fernando Camacho862,18414.0016New4New
Front For VictoryChi Hyun Chung95,2451.550000
National Action Party of BoliviaFeliciano Mamani31,7700.520000
Total6,159,120100.001300360
Valid votes6,159,12094.99
Invalid/blank votes324,7735.01
Total votes6,483,893100.00
Registered voters/turnout7,332,92688.42
Source: OEP

2015–2020 Congress

PartyPresidential candidateVotes%Seats
Chamber+/–Senate+/–
Movement for SocialismEvo Morales3,173,30461.3688025–1
Democrat UnitySamuel Doria Medina1,253,28824.2332–9–
Christian Democratic PartyJorge Quiroga467,3119.0410–2–
Movement Without FearJuan del Granado140,2852.710–40–
Green Party of BoliviaFernando Vargas137,2402.650–0–
Total5,171,428100.001300360
Valid votes5,171,42894.24
Invalid/blank votes316,2485.76
Total votes5,487,676100.00
Registered voters/turnout6,243,13887.90
Source: TSE

2010–2015 Congress

Main article: 1st Plurinational Legislative Assembly of Bolivia

The 2010–2015 Plurinational Legislative Assembly were controlled in both houses by the governing Movement for Socialism (MAS-IPSP), elected with a 2/3 supermajority. Just four incumbent members of the 2005–2010 Congress returned: Deputy Antonio Franco; Deputy Javier Zabaleta (MAS-IPSP/MSM); Senator René Martínez (MAS-IPSP), who was a deputy; and Senator Róger Pinto, previously of Podemos and now representing PPB-CN. As part of a break between the MAS-IPSP and its ally the Without Fear Movement (MSM), the latter party's four deputies, elected on the MAS slate pledged in late March 2010, "to act in accord with our political identity, with our conscience, and with the people who elected us with their vote." Consequently, MAS-IPSP now has 84 members in the Chambers of Deputies, while the MSM has four.

Congressional elections were held as part of general elections on 9 December 2009. After the votes were counted, party strengths in Congress were as follows:

PartyPresidential candidateVotes%Seats
Chamber+/–Senate+/–
Movement for SocialismEvo Morales2,943,20964.2288+1626+14
Plan Progress for Bolivia – National ConvergenceManfred Reyes Villa1,212,79526.4637+3010+9
National Unity FrontSamuel Doria Medina258,9715.653–50–1
Social AllianceRené Joaquino Carlos106,0272.312New0New
Social Patriotic Unity MovementAna María Flores23,2570.510New0New
GenteRomán Loayza15,6270.340New0New
Peoples for Liberty and SovereigntyAlejo Véliz12,9950.280New0New
Social Democratic BoliviaRime Choquehuanca9,9050.220New0New
Total4,582,786100.00130036+9
Valid votes4,582,78694.31
Invalid/blank votes276,6545.69
Total votes4,859,440100.00
Registered voters/turnout5,139,55494.55
Source: CNE

The President of the Senate was Ana María Romero de Campero (MAS-IPSP, La Paz), elected on 19 January 2010, but she died on 26 October 2010. Seventeen of 36 members of the Senate are women. The 26-member MAS-IPSP majority includes all four senators from La Paz, Oruro, and Potosí; three senators from Cochabamba and Chuquisaca; and two senators from each of Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando, and Tarija.

The President of the Chamber of Deputies, elected on 19 January 2010, is Héctor Arce (MAS-IPSP). 33 of 130 deputies (25.38%) are women.

Prior Congresses

2005–2010 Congress

Congressional elections were held on 18 December 2005, concurrently with the 2005 presidential election.

PartyPresidential candidateVotes%Seats
Chamber+/–Senate+/–
Movement for SocialismEvo Morales1,544,37453.7472+4512+4
Social and Democratic PowerJorge Quiroga821,74528.5943+3913+12
National Unity FrontSamuel Jorge Doria Medina Auza224,0907.808New1New
Revolutionary Nationalist MovementMichiaki Nagatani Morishita185,8596.477–1–
Pachakuti Indigenous MovementFelipe Quispe61,9482.160–600
New Republican ForceGildo Angulo Cabrera19,6670.680–250–2
Agrarian Patriotic FrontEliceo Rodríguez Pari8,7370.300New0New
Social Union of the Workers of BoliviaNéstor García Rojas7,3810.260New0New
Total2,873,801100.001300270
Valid votes2,873,80192.63
Invalid/blank votes228,6167.37
Total votes3,102,417100.00
Registered voters/turnout3,671,15284.51
Source: IFES, IFES

The Chamber of Deputies had the following leadership: President Edmundo Novillo Aguilar (MAS, Cochabamba); First Vice President Julia Ramos (MAS); Second Vice President Oscar Urenda (Social Democratic Power, Podemos); First Secretary Oscar Chirinos (MAS); Second Secretary Alex Cerrogrande (MAS); Third Secretary Jorge Becerra (National Unity Front, UN), and Fourth Secretary Roxana Sandoval (Revolutionary Nationalist Movement, MNR).

2002–2005 Congress

Congressional elections were held on 30 June 2002. After the votes were counted, party strengths in Congress were as follows:

PartyPresidential candidateVotes%Seats
Chamber+/–Senate+/–
MNR–MBLGonzalo Sánchez de Lozada624,12622.4636+511+6
Movement for SocialismEvo Morales581,88420.9427New8New
New Republican ForceManfred Reyes Villa581,16320.9125–2–
MIR–FRIJaime Paz Zamora453,37516.3226+35–1
Pachakuti Indigenous MovementFelipe Quispe169,2396.096New0New
UCS–FSBJhonny Fernández [es]153,2105.515–160–2
Nationalist Democratic ActionRonald MacLean Abaroa94,3863.404–1–
Freedom and Justice PartyAlberto Costa75,5222.720New0New
Socialist PartyRolando Morales18,1620.651New0New
Citizens' Movement for ChangeRené Blattmann17,4050.630New0New
Conscience of FatherlandNicolás Valdivia10,3360.370–190–3
Total2,778,808100.001300270
Valid votes2,778,80892.81
Invalid/blank votes215,2577.19
Total votes2,994,065100.00
Registered voters/turnout4,155,05572.06

The next election was scheduled to take place in June 2007, but was brought forward to December 2005 on a decision from interim President Eduardo Rodríguez.

Buildings

Government Palace of Bolivia in downtown La Paz.

The two chambers of Congress meet in the legislative palace located on Plaza Murillo, La Paz's main city-centre square. Plaza Murillo is also flanked by the presidential palace (informally known as the Palacio Quemado – the "Burnt Palace" – on account of repeated attempts to raze it to the ground in the 19th century) and the cathedral of Nuestra Señora de La Paz. Prior to becoming the seat of the legislature in 1904, the congress building had, at different times, housed a convent and a university.

The Vice-President, in his capacity as President of Congress, has an imposing suite of offices on Calle Mercado in central La Paz. The building, designed by Emilio Villanueva, was erected during the 1920s and was originally intended to serve as the headquarters of Bolivia's central bank (Banco de la Nación Boliviana). Under Jaime Paz Zamora's 1989–1993 presidency, the building was reassigned to the vice-presidency, but the vice-presidential staff did not relocate entirely until major reconstruction and renovation work, starting in 1997, had been carried out. The Library of Congress and the National Congressional Archive are also located on the premises.

Members

Chamber of Deputies

Senate

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Compared to the annulled 2019 elections.

References

  1. ^ "Bolivia: Ley del Régimen Electoral, 30 de junio de 2010". Lexivox. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  2. ^ "MAS confirma 26 senadores, 85 diputados y asegura 2/3". FM Bolivia. 2009-12-17. Archived from the original on 2011-07-06. Retrieved 2010-05-21.
  3. "Ruptura MAS-MSM llega a la Asamblea Legislativa Archived 2010-04-01 at the Wayback Machine," La Prensa, 27 March 2010.
  4. "Ana María Romero de Campero elegida presidente del Senado Archived September 29, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, Los Tiempos, 19 January 2010.
  5. "IPU PARLINE database: BOLIVIA (PLURINATIONAL STATE OF) (Cámara de Senadores), General information". archive.ipu.org.
  6. "IPU PARLINE database: BOLIVIA (PLURINATIONAL STATE OF) (Cámara de Diputados), General information". archive.ipu.org.
  7. ABI (2006-01-19). "Bolpress:: El masista Edmundo Novillo asume la presidencia de la Cámara de Diputados". BolPress. Retrieved 2010-05-23.

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