10/22/2020 President of Bolivia - Wikipedia

President of Bolivia
The President of Bolivia (Spanish: Presidente de Bolivia),
officially known as the President of the Plurinational State President of the
of Bolivia (Spanish: Presidente del Estado Plurinacional de Plurinational State of
Bolivia), is head of state and head of government of Bolivia. Bolivia
According to the Bolivian Constitution, the president is elected Presidente del Estado
by popular vote to a five-year term with a two-term limit.[2] If no Plurinacional de Bolivia
candidate wins a majority, the top two candidates advance to a
runoff election.

Contents
History Coat of arms of Bolivia

Elections
Presidential succession
Acting President
See also
Notes
References
External links

History
Since its independence in 1825, Bolivia has been ruled by key
figures in the fight for independence, leaders of the War of the
Pacific, representatives of the aristocracy, military dictators and Incumbent
democratically elected leaders. In Bolivia, these presidents are Jeanine Áñez
divided between two groups. The first are what are classified as since 12 November 2019.
"Constitucionales" having come to power legally or through
quasi-legal means (achieving power through a revolution or Residence Palacio Quemado
coup d’état but later constitutionalised).[3] The rest are either de Seat La Paz
facto having come to power militarily and never Nominator Plurinational Electoral
constitutionalised, or interim having been placed in power only
Organ
until a new president is chosen.
Appointer Direct popular vote (two
In 1983, a poll was taken by Última Hora newspaper to rounds if necessary)
determine which seven historical presidents were regarded as
Term Five years, renewable
most significant. The "winners" were Antonio José de Sucre,
length once
Andrés de Santa Cruz, Manuel Isidoro Belzu, Mariano
Melgarejo, Aniceto Arce, Ismael Montes, and Víctor Paz Inaugural Simón Bolívar
Estenssoro. holder
Formation 11 August 1825
Leaders adopted titles such as "Liberator of Bolivia" (used by
Simón Bolívar and Antonio José de Sucre), and "Supreme First Simón Bolívar
Protector" (by Andrés de Santa Cruz). holder
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Two women served as head of state: Deputy Vice President of Bolivia

Lidia Gueiler Tejada (as Constitutional Interim President) Salary $3,327 USD per
(1979–1980) month[1]
Jeanine Añez Chávez (as Constitutional Interim President) Website www.presidencia.gob.bo
(2019–2020) (http://www.presidencia.
gob.bo/)
Prior to 2009, if no candidate won more than half of the popular
vote, the president was chosen by a vote in a joint legislative
session from among the top two candidates (prior to 1995, the top three).

On 10 November 2019, president Juan Evo Morales Ayma resigned as head of state after more than
20 days of street protests by opposition supporters and accusations of voter fraud committed by
Morales' party, MAS (Movimiento al Socialismo). Initially, there was brutal police repression against
protestors claiming that Morales had committed fraud in the elections.

Shortly thereafter, large groups of people that supported Morales went into the streets. Some
incidents of vandalism were reported, and a house was torched which belonged to Waldo Albarracin,
president of the Universidad Mayor de San Andres, who had long denounced Morales. After more
than two weeks of intense protests and corollary suppression by public safety forces, the latter
determined that they would stand down. A few days later, and owing to the potential for further
confrontation and bloodshed, Bolivian military General Williams Kaliman convinced Morales to
resign the presidency to pacify the country. Morales, fearing reprisals, flew first to Mexico and then
received a lengthier refuge in Argentina.[4]

Shortly thereafter, Morales's successors, who were also accused of participating in voter fraud,
resigned, namely Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera, President of the Senate Adriana Salvatierra
and President of the Chamber of Deputies Víctor Borda. The first vice president of the Senate, Rubén
Medinaceli, also resigned.[5]

Jeanine Añez, the second vice president of the Senate and member of the CC Party, became the
highest-ranking official, who, according to the Bolivian constitution, should assume the role of
interim president[6] after the president, vice-president, and the first president of the senate resigned.
On 12 November 2019, Añez proclaimed transitional, temporary interim charge of the Senate of
Bolivia and, on this basis, was declared the Constitutional President. Her accession to office was
formally approved by a decision of the Plurinational Constitutional Court the same day. Añez began
planning to call new elections in 2020 as well as working to calm the nation and ordered military
police to prevent large demonstrations and isolated attacks by individuals supporting the MAS party.

In the 2020 Bolivian general election, Luis Arce won the popular vote and declared his victory. He is
currently the president-elect of Bolivia.[7]

Elections
See article: Bolivian general election, 2019

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Party Presidential candidate Votes %

Movement for Socialism Evo Morales 2,889,359 47.08
Civic Community Carlos Mesa 2,240,920 36.51
Christian Democratic Party Chi Hyun Chung 539,081 8.78

Democrat Social Movement[a] Óscar Ortiz Antelo 260,316 4.24

Third System Movement Felix Patzi 76,827 1.25

Revolutionary Nationalist Movement Virginio Lema 42,334 0.69
Results annulled
National Action Party of Bolivia Ruth Nina 39,826 0.65
Solidarity Civic Unity Víctor Hugo Cárdenas 25,283 0.41
The Front For Victory Israel Rodriquez 23,725 0.39
Invalid/blank votes 322,844 —
Total 6,460,515 100
Registered voters/turnout 7,315,364 88.31
Source: Cómputo Electoral (https://computo.oep.org.bo/#)

Presidential succession
In the event of the president's death or permanent incapacity, the vice president was to assume office.
The president of the Senate and the president of the Chamber of Deputies are third and fourth in the
line of succession. In the 2005 political crisis, with all of these positions exhausted, Eduardo
Rodríguez Veltzé, the chief justice of the Bolivian Supreme Court, assumed the presidency. Under the
2009 Constitution, however, the assumption of power by the president of the Chamber of Deputies
automatically precipitates an election within 90 days.[8]

Acting President

In the case of temporary incapacity or absence from the country, the title of Acting President
(Spanish: Presidente en ejercicio) is transferred to lower officials according to the order of
presidential succession. In September 2012, Senate president Gabriela Montaño became the first
woman to assume this office, during the presidency of Evo Morales.[9]

See also
History of Bolivia
Politics of Bolivia

Notes
a. Reported as 'Bolivia Dice No' and/or '21F'

References
1. Martinez, Joel J. (22 June 2017). "Shocking Gap Between Latin America's Presidential Salaries
And Workers Minimum Wage" (http://www.latinpost.com/articles/141919/20170622/comparing-lati
n-america-s-presidential-salaries-minimum-wage-shocking.htm). Latin Post. Retrieved 4 January
2020.
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2. "The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency" (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-

world-factbook/geos/bl.html). www.cia.gov. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
3. "Inhalt" (https://dx.doi.org/10.7767/jbla-2016-0101). Jahrbuch für Geschichte Lateinamerikas -
Anuario de Historia de America Latina. 53 (1). 1 January 2016. doi:10.7767/jbla-2016-0101 (http
s://doi.org/10.7767%2Fjbla-2016-0101). ISSN 2194-3680 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/2194-36
80).
4. "Evo Morales Lands in Argentina, Where He Will Be Granted Refugee Status" (https://www.nytim
es.com/2019/12/12/world/americas/evo-morales-refugee-argentina.html).
5. Faiola, Anthony. "Evo Morales resigns as Bolivia's president after OAS election audit, protests" (h
ttps://www.washingtonpost.com/world/bolivia-to-hold-new-elections-after-protests-and-internation
al-criticism/2019/11/10/4778e842-03b2-11ea-ac12-3325d49eacaa_story.html). The Washington
Post. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
6. Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche. "Bolivia: Interim president bars Morales from new elections | DW
| 15.11.2019" (https://www.dw.com/en/bolivia-interim-president-bars-morales-from-new-elections/
a-51259511). DW.COM. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
7. Valdez, Carlos (20 October 2020). "Morales party claims win as Bolivia seems to shift back left" (h
ttps://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-bolivia-evo-morales-elections-voting-fraud-and-irregularit
ies-a3a68ec5df5889cc4010d5329603cb20). Retrieved 20 October 2020.
8. "Artículo 169: En caso de impedimento o ausencia definitiva de la Presidenta o del Presidente
del Estado, será reemplazada o reemplazado en el cargo por la Vicepresidenta o el
Vicepresidente y, a falta de ésta o éste, por la Presidenta o el Presidente del Senado, y a falta de
ésta o éste por la Presidente o el Presidente de la Cámara de Diputados. En este último caso, se
convocarán nuevas elecciones en el plazo máximo de noventa días." "Segunda Parte, Título II,
Capítulo Primero". Nueva Constitución Política del Estado (https://web.archive.org/web/20090521
023641/http://www.presidencia.gob.bo/download/constitucion.pdf) (PDF). pp. 36–37. Archived
from the original (http://www.presidencia.gob.bo/download/constitucion.pdf) (PDF) on 21 May
2009. Retrieved 12 February 2009.
9. Corz, Carlos (23 September 2012). "Montaño asume la Presidencia interina de Bolivia, Evo va a
la ONU y hablará del mar" (https://web.archive.org/web/20120926021652/http://www.la-razon.co
m/nacional/Montano-Presidencia-Bolivia-Evo-ONU_0_1693030684.html). La Razón. Archived
from the original (http://www.la-razon.com/nacional/Montano-Presidencia-Bolivia-Evo-ONU_0_16
93030684.html) on 26 September 2012. Retrieved 24 September 2012.

External links
(in Spanish) Gallery of Presidents of Bolivia (https://web.archive.org/web/20110607002728/http://
www.presidencia.gob.bo/presidentes.php)

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