Bolivian general election, 2005

Bolivian general election, 2005

18 December 2005

150x150px Nominee Evo Morales Jorge Quiroga Samuel Doria Medina Party MAS-IPSP Podemos National Unity Popular vote 1,544,374 821,745 224,090 Percentage 53.74% 28.59% 7.80%

President before election Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada Revolutionary Nationalist Movement Elected President Evo Morales MAS-IPSP

General elections were held in Bolivia on 18 December 2005. Evo Morales of the Movement for Socialism (MAS) party was elected President of Bolivia with 54% of the vote, the first time a candidate had received an absolute majority since the flawed 1978 elections. Morales was sworn in on 22 January 2006 for a five-year term. The MAS also won a majority of seats in the Chamber of Deputies and emerged as the largest party in the Senate.

Simultaneously voters elected prefects, the highest executive office in each of Bolivia's nine departments. This was the first time the office had been chosen at the ballot box. Subsequently, departmental elections were held separately from national elections, with the next one held in April 2010.

Background

In the early 2000s there were high levels of political instability across the country, including five Presidents in four years. Much of the instability dates back to the economic reforms otherwise known as "shock therapy" implemented by President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada whereby many formerly public utilities were privatized.

These reforms ultimately lead to the First Bolivian Gas War in October 2003 where protesters, many of them of indigenous descent, essentially forced the resignation of Sánchez de Lozada. Carlos Mesa temporarily served as interim President.

In his year in office, Mesa held a national referendum on the prospect of the nationalization of the hydrocarbons industry which he claimed to have won. Critics however said that the questions were vague and ambiguous with regard to outright nationalization of the hydrocarbons industry.

In May 2005 the Second Bolivian Gas War began after Congress agreed to raise taxes on foreign companies from 18% to 32%. The unions, led by Evo Morales, felt the law did not go far enough and effectively shut down the country, blockading major roads and cutting off the food supplies of several large cities.

In June 2005 the protests ultimately led to Mesa's resignation. Supreme Court Chief Justice Eduardo Rodríguez assumed the position of President of the Republic after the presidents of both the Senate and Chamber of Deputies declined the position and Rodríguez was fourth in line of succession.

Viewed as an apolitical figure, Rodríguez was welcomed by protesters and called for the presidential elections slated to take place in 2007 to be brought forward to December 2005.

Electoral system

Voters had two ballots; a national-level ballot to elect the President and the nationally-elected members of Congress, and one for members of Congress elected in single-member constituencies in the Chamber of Deputies. Senators and Deputies were returned on a departmental basis; Senators were elected on a majoritarian basis, with the first-place party receiving two and the second-place party one, while deputies were elected on a mixed-member basis, with district deputies joining list deputies awarded by compensatory proportional representation. However, there was no national distribution of seats.

Voting was compulsory for all Bolivians over the age of 18, but Bolivians living abroad were not able to take part.

Results

Party	Presidential candidate	Votes	%	Seats
				Chamber	+/–	Senate	+/–
Movement for Socialism	Evo Morales	1,544,374	53.74	72	+45	12	+4
Social and Democratic Power	Jorge Quiroga	821,745	28.59	43	+39	13	+12
National Unity Front	Samuel Jorge Doria Medina Auza	224,090	7.80	8	New	1	New
Revolutionary Nationalist Movement	Michiaki Nagatani Morishita	185,859	6.47	7	–	1	–
Pachakuti Indigenous Movement	Felipe Quispe	61,948	2.16	0	–6	0	0
New Republican Force	Gildo Angulo Cabrera	19,667	0.68	0	–25	0	–2
Agrarian Patriotic Front	Eliceo Rodríguez Pari	8,737	0.30	0	New	0	New
Social Union of the Workers of Bolivia	Néstor García Rojas	7,381	0.26	0	New	0	New
Invalid/blank votes		228,616	–	–	–	–	–
Total		3,102,417	100	130	0	27	0
Registered votes/turnout		3,671,152	84.51	–	–	–	–
Source: IFES, IFES

Aftermath

Morales claimed his victory marked Bolivia's first election of an indigenous head of state, but this claim generated controversy, due to the number of mestizo presidents who came before him, and was challenged publicly by such figures as Mario Vargas Llosa, who accused Morales of fomenting racial divisions in an increasingly mestizo Latin America.

External links

• National Electoral Court of Bolivia (in Spanish)
• BBC "Crucial Choice for Bolivian Voters"
• BBC "Q&A: Bolivian Elections"
• CBC "Left-wing candidate favoured to win Bolivian election"
• NPR's Weekend Edition: "Bolivians Vote for President"
• NPR's All Things Considered "Bolivia Prepares for Presidential Election"
• MAS Official Campaign Site