Bolivian political parties

Bolivia's political parties or political system are divided into three groups: left, center and right, with different tendencies within these groups such as radicalism, populism and the emergence of social movements of workers and peasants have been factors that gave rise to political organizations.

The Political Constitution of the State of Bolivia of 2009 establishes that candidates for public office to be elected are nominated by indigenous organizations, citizen groups (a modality incorporated in the Law of Citizen Groups of 2004) and political parties. All these political organizations must elect their leaders and candidates through internal democratic elections that are supervised by the Electoral Body and that guarantee the equal participation of men and women.

History of political parties in Bolivia

Independence and caudillismo

In the regulatory sphere, in Bolivia indirect or representative democracy has governed since the promulgation of the law of August 13, 1825. However, since its founding in that year and until the start of the War of the Pacific in 1879, the country did not have a system of political parties. In this period of political instability, the Presidency was defined through votes in Congress, overthrows led by military leaders, or sporadic elections in which participation was restricted based on the economic and social condition of the people and in which representatives were nominated. of the aristocracy or popular military

Governments of the Conservative Party

After the defeat in the War of the Pacific, the ruling elite decided to organize the nation on the demoliberal model and directly take the reins of power. Thus was born what has been called the oligarchic state. This change had to do with the consolidation of the mining power of silver.

This moment coincides with the birth of political parties as organized structures. The great ideologue of the period is Eliodoro Camacho who organically established the principles of liberal ideology, which would be the ideological basis of the parties until the Chaco War. Political, economic and individual freedom was the tripod of those ideas. The confrontation between the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party was between power groups and the region. The conservatives came to the Presidency under two factions: Gregorio Pacheco (1884-1888) with the Democratic Party and Aniceto Arce (1888-1892), Mariano Baptista (1892-1896) and Severo Fernández Alonso (1896-1899) with the Constitutional Party..

The political struggle between conservatives and liberals was defined after the Federal War of 1898 that ended with the victory of the liberals and the transfer of the seat of government from Sucre to La Paz.

The most important events of this period were: the policy of plundering indigenous lands, the importation of capital and technology, urban modernization from the arrival of the railway, electric power and the telegraph, the Bolivian insertion in the international market with the first banking law, the road link, the installation of the first telephone line.

Governments of the Liberal Party

José Manuel Pando opened the cycle of liberal governments (1899-1920), with a modernizing mentality that marked a new preeminence of the economy and internal geopolitics of Bolivia, establishing the leadership of La Paz that would be valid throughout of the entire XX century. This period is characterized by the collapse of Bolivian silver mining and, in parallel, the rise of tin and the multiple uses of this product in the world. In two decades the so-called tin barons Simón Patiño, Carlos Víctor Aramayo and Mauricio Hoschild, became a decisive economic and political power in the country. The Presidents of Bolivia for the Liberal Party were: Narciso Campero (1880-1884), José Manuel Pando (1899-1904), Ismael Montes (1904-1909 and 1913-1917), José Gutiérrez Guerra (1917-1920) and Jose Luis Tejada Sorzano (1934-1936).

Among the main events of this period, the following stand out: the signing of the 1904 Treaty that put an end to the war between Chile and Bolivia and defined the landlocked nature of the latter, successive surpluses due to the growth of exports, modernization of the army, the plunder of community lands and the growth of large estates, road integration works and the signing of the first concession contract for areas for oil exploitation with the North American Richmond Levering in the department of Santa Cruz.

Revolution of 52

The political parties that governed the country since the National Revolution of 1952 were the MNR, ADN, FSB and MIR, among the most prominent, with interruptions due to military coups.

21st century

In 2002 the political scenario was configured as follows: On the Left the Movement for Socialism (MAS), on the Center-right National Unity (UN), on the Center-left the Movement Without Fear (MSM), on the Center-right Social Democratic Power (Podemos) and on the Right and Center-right Progress Plan for Bolivia-National Convergence (PPB-CN) and on the Right the historic Revolutionary Nationalist Movement (MNR).

The composition of the current Bolivian political system is recent because at the beginning of the 21st century the political parties that governed the country since the 1952 Revolution lost credibility and suffered wear and tear that led them to practically disappear. However, several of them (MNR, ADN, PDC) have reappeared in the early 2010s.

Little by little, the MAS has grown a lot in popular support, but there have always been different groups that have faced the party, we can mention in 2009, the Progress Plan for Bolivia-National Convergence (PPB-CN) and the In 2014, the union of two groups, which were MDS and UN, which formed the Unidad Demócrata (UD) group.

Today, the leading political force in the country is the far-left MAS party led by former Bolivian president Evo Morales, followed by the governor of Santa Cruz in opposition to the government of Luis Arce, Luis Fernando Camacho with his party We believe^{[citation required]} who is accused (among other politicians opposed to MAS, such as former President Carlos D. Mesa) as one of the perpetrators of an alleged coup d'état against the then president Evo Morales in 2019, a fact that the politicians opposed to the MAS flatly deny and describe the departure of Morales as the consequence of electoral fraud verified by the OAS, which triggered massive citizen protests that led to his resignation and subsequent flight de Morales from the country to seek refuge in Mexico.

List of former political parties

Currently registered parties

The following are the parties currently registered according to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal:

• Nationalist Democratic Action (DNDR)
• National Unity Front (UN)
• Revolutionary Left Front (FRI)
• Movement to Socialism (MAS)
• Social Democratic Movement (MDS)
• Third System Movement (MTS)
• Revolutionary Nationalist Movement (MNR)
• Christian Democratic Party (PDC)
• Civic Solidarity Unit (UCS)
• Sovereignty and Freedom for Bolivia (SOL.BO)
• Front for Victory (FPV)
• Bolivian National Action Party (PAN-BOL)
• Citizen Community (CC)
• We believe (we believe)
• Together (together)

lions of the east

Disappeared political parties

• Movement Without Fear (MSM)
• Green Party of Bolivia (PVB)
• Popular Consensus (CP)

Parties and coalitions

• FRI (Frente Revolutionary de Izquierda), founder: Federico Escobar Zapata
• FUERSA (Anti-imperialist Socialist Revolutionary Force)
• MBL (Bolivia Free Movement), founder: Antonio Araníbar Quiroga
• MIP (Indigenous Movement Pachakuti), founder: Felipe Quispe Huanca
• MRTKL (Tupaq Katari Liberation Revolutionary Movement), founder: Víctor Hugo Cárdenas Conde
• MST (Bolivia Workers' Socialist Movement), founder: Jaime Vilela
• PCB (Communist Party of Bolivia), founder: Sergio Almaraz Paz
• PDC (Christian Democratic Party), founder: Benjamin Miguel Harb
• PIR (Revolutionary Left Party), founder: José Antonio Arze
• By (Revolutionary Worker Party), founder: Guillermo Lora Escóbar
• PRA (Autontic Revolutionary Party), founder: Walter Guevara Arce
• PSD (Social Democratic Party), founder: Luis Adolfo Siles Salinas
• CONDEPA, founder: Carlos Palenque Avilés
• NFR (New Republican Force), founder: Manfred Reyes Villa
• PCR (Revolutionary Communist Party (Bolivia))
• PPB-CN (Plan Progreso para Bolivia-Convergencia Nacional), founder: José Luis Paredes and Luis Alberto Serrate Middagh
• MNR

Historical matches

Main political parties
Name	Acronym	Founder
CenturyXIX and First Half CenturyXX.
Conservative Party	PC	Aniceto Arce, Mariano Baptista
Liberal Party	PL	Eliodoro Camacho
Democratic Party	PD	Gregorio Pacheco Laws
Nationalist Party	PN	Hernando Siles Reyes
Republican Party	PR	Baptist Saavedra Mallea
Genuine Republican Party	PRG	Daniel Salamanca Urey
Party of the Socialist Republican Union	PURS	Enrique Hertzog Garaizabal
Second Half CenturyXX.
Revolutionary Nationalist Movement	MNR	Victor Paz Estenssoro
Bolivian Socialist Falange	FSB	Oscar Unzaga de la Vega
Front of the Bolivian Revolution	FRB	René Barrientos Ortuño
Socialist Party	PS	Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz
Democratic and Popular Unity	UDP	Hernan Siles Zuazo
Nationalist Democratic Action	DNA	Hugo Banzer Suárez
Revolutionary Left Movement	MIR	Jaime Paz Zamora
First Half CenturyXXI (Update)
Movement to Socialism	MORE	Evo Morales Ayma
Social Democratic Power	We can't.	Paul Mauritius Ipiña Nagel
Progress Plan for Bolivia-Convergencia Nacional	PPB-CN	José Luis Paredes, Luis Alberto Serrate Middagh
National Unit	UN	Samuel Doria Medina
Social Alliance	AS	René Joaquino Cabrera
Social Democratic Movement	MDS	Rubén Armando Costas Aguilera