Bolivian municipal election, 1999
Encyclopedia
Municipal elections were held in Bolivia
, on December 5, 1999, in all 311 municipalities across the country. The elections marked a milestone in the continuous deterioration of the political influence of the traditional parties. In 23 municipalities the mayors were elected through direct popular vote, in other municipalities the mayors were elected by the respective municipal council.
(MIR) was able to make a minor comeback in these elections, increasing its share of votes to 16% compared to around 9% in the 1993 and 1995 municipal polls. The party emerged as the largest party in 56 municipalities. It achieved its best results in the La Paz and Tarija Departments, winning 24.09% and 24.45% of the votes in respective Department. The weakest region of MIR was the Cochabamba Department, where the party scored 6.92% of the votes.
(ADN), the party of then president and former military dictator Hugo Banzer
, came third in the polls. It was however able to get 70 mayors elected from its ranks. Notably in municipalities were the mayors were elected by the municipal councils, ADN was able to obtain a high percentage of mayors elected. The foremost stronghold of the party was Pando Department
, where the party got 49% of the votes and was able to gain 14 out of 15 mayoral posts.
' Movement for Socialism
(MAS). MAS emerged out of the split in the Assembly for the Sovereignty of the Peoples, which had been divided in a factional conflict between Morales and Alejo Veliz
. Morales' group obtained the legal registry to compete in the elections by borrowing the registration (and party name) of a falangist
splinter faction (MAS-U). Veliz's group decided to contest on the lists of the Communist Party of Bolivia
(PCB). Felipe Quispe
aligned himself with Veliz's group. In the Cochabamba region the verbal confrontations between the two sides were often tense, the Veliz group launched the slogan "MAS is Unzaguist, falangist, heil heil Hitler".
(UCS) went down from 17.45% nationwide in 1995 to 11.8% in 1999. However, the party was able to consolidate its position in the mayoral election in Santa Cruz de la Sierra
, where its candidate Johnny Férnandez was re-elected.
(MSM), 36%.
The Albó/Quispe study also surved the ethnic identification of the councilors. The survey included four degrees of (indigenous) as well as a 'non-indigenous' category. 22.4% of surveyed councilors were identified as 'highly' indigenous, 20.6% as 'medium', 19.0% 'discoursive' indigenous, 11.0% as 'discretely' indigenous and 27.0% as 'non-indigenous'. Two parties, the Communist Party of Bolivia (PCB) and the Movement for Socialism (MAS) had the markedly highest number of indigenous (in the two first degree categories), 75.60% for the Communist Party and 75.0% for MAS. Amongst the Communist Party councilors, 62.50% were identified as 'highly' ethnic (the highest number amongst all contesting parties). The percentage of non-indigenous PCB/MAS candidates was only 1.3%. The high number of indigenous councilors of the Communist Party can be explained through the alliance the party had done with Alejo Veliz's group.
The highest percentage of non-indigenous councilors was found in the three mayor parties (MNR, ADN, MIR), which all had a percentage of non-indigenous candidates slightly exceeding 30%.
The elections produced a fragmented verdict in most municipalities. In line with the pattern in the national political scene at the time, building coalitions was often necessary in order to form a municipal government. In terms of percentage of votes, the 'big three' (MNR, ADN, MIR) stood at 51%, a reduction from 59% in the 1987 municipal elections. The share of votes mustered by smaller parties increased compared to the 1995 election, parties with less than 3% of the national votes shared 11.27% of the votes (compared to 6.0% in 1995). A government study of 269 municipalities showed that in 73% of the studied municipalities no single party held absolute majority in the municipal council (slightly down from 75% in the preceding 1995 municipal elections). The fragmentation was highest in the La Paz Department (with 20% of municipal councils with a single party holding absolute majority), whilst in the Pando Department
93% of the municipalities had single-party absolute majorities.
The two parties sharing the national government at the time of the election (ADN and MIR) obtained a combined vote of 38.1%. If one adds their political allies UCS and NFR the vote of the governing bloc exceeded 54% (although NFR was not fully submerged into the ruling alliance). However, national alliances did not play a role in the municipal elections, as the different parties of the governing bloc competed against each other on the local level.
Notably, the three largest parties (MNR, ADN, MIR) got a relatively high number of seats in comparison with their percentage of votes, due to the fact that they obtained a many seats in scarsely-populated areas in eastern Bolivia (thanks to their wide national organizational coverage). Together they mustered two thirds of the seats in the country. Newer parties like NFR and MSM got a relatively lower number of seats, as their vote was concentrated in urban areas.
As a result of the Quota Law (adopted in 1997) and Law on Political Parties (passed on June 25, 1999), the representation of women in municipal councils increased. 42.11% of the elected councilors were women (an increase compared to 9.77% in the 1995 elections).
However, Albó/Quispe study showed that the 92% of the elected mayors were men. The study also showed that many elected mayors had contested municipal elections before. Regarding ethnicity, the study showed a correlation between the size and wealth of the municipality and the ethnic identity of its mayor. The larger the population and/or the higher the level of wealth of the municipality, the more likely it was that the mayor would be non-indigenous.
, the media attention of the election campaign came to focus on the Juan del Granado
's discourse against corruption and in favour of participatory democracy
. In the end del Granado, a known human rights lawyer and parliamentarian, won the election by a very thin margin. In neighbouring El Alto, reducing commuting times between La Paz and El Alto remained high on the agenda, as in previous local elections. The incumbent CONDEPA had launched Remedios Loza, a popular TV figure, as their candidate. However CONDEPA was weakened in the city not only by the impact of the loss of its national leader, but also suffered from impopularity due to corruption and mismanagement in the municipality. The party was routed by the MIR, as the MIR leader José Luis Paredes was elected mayor with 45% of the votes. The electoral intervention of MNR in the city was quite low-key, in spite of the party having a strong local organization. Rather than seeking to get their candidate elected as mayor, the party focused on promoting their leader Goni
ahead of the 2002 presidential election
. MNR obtained a single seat in the El Alto municipal council.
) the MAS mayoral candidate only got 0.88% (less than the Communist Party candidate, Alejo Veliz who got 1.1%). The mayoral post of Cochabamba was won by Manfred Reyes Villa
of the New Republican Force
, who got 51.2% of the votes in the city.
In Charagua
ADN, MNR, MIR, MBL and NFR won one seat each.
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
, on December 5, 1999, in all 311 municipalities across the country. The elections marked a milestone in the continuous deterioration of the political influence of the traditional parties. In 23 municipalities the mayors were elected through direct popular vote, in other municipalities the mayors were elected by the respective municipal council.
MIR
The Revolutionary Left MovementRevolutionary Left Movement
Revolutionary Left Movement may refer to:*Revolutionary Left Movement *Revolutionary Left Movement *Revolutionary Left Movement *Revolutionary Left Movement...
(MIR) was able to make a minor comeback in these elections, increasing its share of votes to 16% compared to around 9% in the 1993 and 1995 municipal polls. The party emerged as the largest party in 56 municipalities. It achieved its best results in the La Paz and Tarija Departments, winning 24.09% and 24.45% of the votes in respective Department. The weakest region of MIR was the Cochabamba Department, where the party scored 6.92% of the votes.
ADN
The Nationalist Democratic ActionNationalist Democratic Action
Nationalist Democratic Action is a right-wing political party in Bolivia led by Jorge Quiroga. ADN was founded on March 23, 1979 by the military dictator Hugo Banzer after he stepped down from power. It later expanded to include the Revolutionary Left Party and a faction of the Bolivian Socialist...
(ADN), the party of then president and former military dictator Hugo Banzer
Hugo Banzer
Hugo Banzer Suárez was a politician, military general, dictator and President of Bolivia. He held the Bolivian presidency twice: from August 22, 1971 to July 21, 1978, as a dictator; and then again from August 6, 1997 to August 7, 2001, as constitutional President.-Military and ideological...
, came third in the polls. It was however able to get 70 mayors elected from its ranks. Notably in municipalities were the mayors were elected by the municipal councils, ADN was able to obtain a high percentage of mayors elected. The foremost stronghold of the party was Pando Department
Pando Department
Pando is a department of Bolivia, with an area of , adjoining the border with Brazil. Pando has a population 66,689 . Its capital is the city of Cobija....
, where the party got 49% of the votes and was able to gain 14 out of 15 mayoral posts.
The Left
This was the first election contested by Evo MoralesEvo Morales
Juan Evo Morales Ayma , popularly known as Evo , is a Bolivian politician and activist, currently serving as the 80th President of Bolivia, a position that he has held since 2006. He is also the leader of both the Movement for Socialism party and the cocalero trade union...
' Movement for Socialism
Movement for Socialism (Bolivia)
The Movement for Socialism-Political Instrument for the Sovereignty of the Peoples , alternately referred to as "Movement Toward Socialism" or "Movement to Socialism", is a left-wing, socialist, Bolivian political organization led by Evo Morales, founded in 1995...
(MAS). MAS emerged out of the split in the Assembly for the Sovereignty of the Peoples, which had been divided in a factional conflict between Morales and Alejo Veliz
Alejo Véliz
Alejo Véliz Lazo is a Bolivian politician and activist. He is a member of the ASP party. Véliz is a former executive secretary of the Federación Sindical Única de Trabajadores Campesinos de Cochabamba , and former Secretary General of the Confederación Sindical Única de Trabajadores Campesinos de...
. Morales' group obtained the legal registry to compete in the elections by borrowing the registration (and party name) of a falangist
Falangism
Falangism is the political ideology of the Spanish Falange as well as derivatives of it in other countries. In its original form, Falangism is widely associated as a fascist ideology, the Spanish Falange denied this, claiming it was not a copy of any foreign movement...
splinter faction (MAS-U). Veliz's group decided to contest on the lists of the Communist Party of Bolivia
Communist Party of Bolivia
The Communist Party of Bolivia is a communist party in Bolivia. It was founded in 1950 by Raúl Ruiz González and other former members of the Revolutionary Left Party . It remained small and did not hold its first national party congress until 1959....
(PCB). Felipe Quispe
Felipe Quispe
Felipe Quispe Huanca "El Mallku" is an ethnic Aymara Bolivian political leader. He heads the Pachakuti Indigenous Movement and has also been general secretary of the United Union Confederation of Working Peasants of Bolivia...
aligned himself with Veliz's group. In the Cochabamba region the verbal confrontations between the two sides were often tense, the Veliz group launched the slogan "MAS is Unzaguist, falangist, heil heil Hitler".
UCS
The national vote of the Civic Solidarity UnionCivic Solidarity Union
The Civic Solidarity Union is a political party in Bolivia.At the legislative elections in 2002, the party won 5.3% of the popular vote and five out of 130 seats in the Chamber of Deputies but no Senate seats. UCS was founded on 15 August 1989 by Max Fernández, and is currently led by his son,...
(UCS) went down from 17.45% nationwide in 1995 to 11.8% in 1999. However, the party was able to consolidate its position in the mayoral election in Santa Cruz de la Sierra
Santa Cruz de la Sierra
Santa Cruz de la Sierra, commonly known as Santa Cruz, is the capital of the Santa Cruz department in eastern Bolivia and the largest city in the country...
, where its candidate Johnny Férnandez was re-elected.
CONDEPA
At the time of the 1999 elections the Conscience of the Fatherland (CONDEPA) was a party in crisis. The party had suffered the death of its leader Carlos Palenque, and divisions had erupted amongst his successors. Moreover, the influence of the mass media connected to the party had decreased significantly. As the party lost the municipal contest in El Alto in these elections, they lost their last remaining political stronghold in the country.Candidates
According to a study of Xavier Albó and Víctor Quispe (which included a survey of 1628 local politicians, roughly corresponding to the final election tally), 76% of the surveyed politicians were members of the political party which had nominated them as candidates. The highest number was found in the Nationalist Revolutionary Movement (MNR), 85%, whilst the lowest figure was recorded amongst the candidates of the Without Fear MovementWithout Fear Movement
Without Fear Movement is a Progressive political party in Bolivia. MSM was founded on March 1, 1999.The leader of the party, Juan del Granado, has been mayor of La Paz since 2000...
(MSM), 36%.
The Albó/Quispe study also surved the ethnic identification of the councilors. The survey included four degrees of (indigenous) as well as a 'non-indigenous' category. 22.4% of surveyed councilors were identified as 'highly' indigenous, 20.6% as 'medium', 19.0% 'discoursive' indigenous, 11.0% as 'discretely' indigenous and 27.0% as 'non-indigenous'. Two parties, the Communist Party of Bolivia (PCB) and the Movement for Socialism (MAS) had the markedly highest number of indigenous (in the two first degree categories), 75.60% for the Communist Party and 75.0% for MAS. Amongst the Communist Party councilors, 62.50% were identified as 'highly' ethnic (the highest number amongst all contesting parties). The percentage of non-indigenous PCB/MAS candidates was only 1.3%. The high number of indigenous councilors of the Communist Party can be explained through the alliance the party had done with Alejo Veliz's group.
The highest percentage of non-indigenous councilors was found in the three mayor parties (MNR, ADN, MIR), which all had a percentage of non-indigenous candidates slightly exceeding 30%.
Results
| Party | Votes | % of votes | Seats | % of seats |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationalist Revolutionary Movement (MNR) | 408,824 | 20.4% | 463 | 27.2% |
| Revolutionary Left Movement Revolutionary Left Movement (Bolivia) The Revolutionary Left Movement - New Majority is a social democratic political party in Bolivia... (MIR) |
319,399 | 16.0% | 318 | 18.7% |
| Nationalist Democratic Action Nationalist Democratic Action Nationalist Democratic Action is a right-wing political party in Bolivia led by Jorge Quiroga. ADN was founded on March 23, 1979 by the military dictator Hugo Banzer after he stepped down from power. It later expanded to include the Revolutionary Left Party and a faction of the Bolivian Socialist... (ADN) |
292,803 | 14.6% | 354 | 20.8% |
| Civic Solidarity Union Civic Solidarity Union The Civic Solidarity Union is a political party in Bolivia.At the legislative elections in 2002, the party won 5.3% of the popular vote and five out of 130 seats in the Chamber of Deputies but no Senate seats. UCS was founded on 15 August 1989 by Max Fernández, and is currently led by his son,... (UCS) |
237,094 | 11.8% | 156 | 9.2% |
| New Republican Force New Republican Force The New Republican Force is a center-right personalist political party in Bolivia.At the legislative elections in 2002, the party won 26.5 % of the popular vote and 25 out of 130 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and two out of 27 seats in the Senate... (NFR) |
166,173 | 8.3% | 93 | 5.5% |
| Without Fear Movement Without Fear Movement Without Fear Movement is a Progressive political party in Bolivia. MSM was founded on March 1, 1999.The leader of the party, Juan del Granado, has been mayor of La Paz since 2000... (MSM) |
116,652 | 5.8% | 47 | 2.8% |
| Free Bolivia Movement Free Bolivia Movement The Free Bolivia Movement is a progressive political party in Bolivia. The party was formed on January 15, 1985, following a split in MIR... (MBL) |
89,505 | 4.5% | 84 | 4.9% |
| Conscience of the Fatherland (CONDEPA) | 80,857 | 4.0% | 35 | 2.1% |
| Movement for Socialism Movement for Socialism (Bolivia) The Movement for Socialism-Political Instrument for the Sovereignty of the Peoples , alternately referred to as "Movement Toward Socialism" or "Movement to Socialism", is a left-wing, socialist, Bolivian political organization led by Evo Morales, founded in 1995... (MAS) |
65,425 | 3.3% | 81 | 4.8% |
| Socialist Party Socialist Party (Bolivia) The Socialist Party-1 is a socialist political party in Bolivia.At the legislative elections in 2002, the party won 0.7% of the popular vote and one out of 130 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and no seats in the Senate.... (PS-1) |
55,823 | 2.8% | 22 | |
| VR-9 | 43,713 | 2.2% | ? | |
| Bolivian Socialist Falange Bolivian Socialist Falange The Bolivian Socialist Falange was a Bolivian political party established in the year 1937. A right-wing party drawing inspiration from fascism, it was the country's second-largest party between approximately 1954 and 1974... (FSB) |
43,364 | 2.2% | ? | |
| Revolutionary Left Front Revolutionary Left Front -Foundation:FRI was formed at a national conference of leftwing forces, held in La Paz April 23, 1978. The meeting was organized by an initiative committee . The founding of FRI in April 1978 was a formalization of an already existing informal cooperation between different political groups... (FRI) |
37,833 | 1.9% | 17 | |
| Communist Party of Bolivia Communist Party of Bolivia The Communist Party of Bolivia is a communist party in Bolivia. It was founded in 1950 by Raúl Ruiz González and other former members of the Revolutionary Left Party . It remained small and did not hold its first national party congress until 1959.... (PCB) |
22,502 | 1.1% | 22 | 1.3% |
| Democratic National Katarism (KND) | 8,216 | 0.4% | ||
| Christian Democratic Party Christian Democratic Party (Bolivia) The Christian Democratic Party is a progressive Christian-democratic political party in Bolivia.... (PDC) |
7,538 | 0.4% | ||
| Popular Patriotic Movement (MPP) | 4,607 | 0.2% | ||
| Revolutionary Liberation Movement Tupaq Katari Revolutionary Liberation Movement Tupaq Katari The Revolutionary Liberation Movement Tupaq Katari is a left-wing political party in Bolivia.... (MRTKL) |
1,473 | 0.1% | 2 | |
| Total | 2,001,801 | 100% | 1700 | 100% |
The elections produced a fragmented verdict in most municipalities. In line with the pattern in the national political scene at the time, building coalitions was often necessary in order to form a municipal government. In terms of percentage of votes, the 'big three' (MNR, ADN, MIR) stood at 51%, a reduction from 59% in the 1987 municipal elections. The share of votes mustered by smaller parties increased compared to the 1995 election, parties with less than 3% of the national votes shared 11.27% of the votes (compared to 6.0% in 1995). A government study of 269 municipalities showed that in 73% of the studied municipalities no single party held absolute majority in the municipal council (slightly down from 75% in the preceding 1995 municipal elections). The fragmentation was highest in the La Paz Department (with 20% of municipal councils with a single party holding absolute majority), whilst in the Pando Department
Pando Department
Pando is a department of Bolivia, with an area of , adjoining the border with Brazil. Pando has a population 66,689 . Its capital is the city of Cobija....
93% of the municipalities had single-party absolute majorities.
The two parties sharing the national government at the time of the election (ADN and MIR) obtained a combined vote of 38.1%. If one adds their political allies UCS and NFR the vote of the governing bloc exceeded 54% (although NFR was not fully submerged into the ruling alliance). However, national alliances did not play a role in the municipal elections, as the different parties of the governing bloc competed against each other on the local level.
Notably, the three largest parties (MNR, ADN, MIR) got a relatively high number of seats in comparison with their percentage of votes, due to the fact that they obtained a many seats in scarsely-populated areas in eastern Bolivia (thanks to their wide national organizational coverage). Together they mustered two thirds of the seats in the country. Newer parties like NFR and MSM got a relatively lower number of seats, as their vote was concentrated in urban areas.
As a result of the Quota Law (adopted in 1997) and Law on Political Parties (passed on June 25, 1999), the representation of women in municipal councils increased. 42.11% of the elected councilors were women (an increase compared to 9.77% in the 1995 elections).
However, Albó/Quispe study showed that the 92% of the elected mayors were men. The study also showed that many elected mayors had contested municipal elections before. Regarding ethnicity, the study showed a correlation between the size and wealth of the municipality and the ethnic identity of its mayor. The larger the population and/or the higher the level of wealth of the municipality, the more likely it was that the mayor would be non-indigenous.
La Paz Department
In La PazLa Paz
Nuestra Señora de La Paz is the administrative capital of Bolivia, as well as the departmental capital of the La Paz Department, and the second largest city in the country after Santa Cruz de la Sierra...
, the media attention of the election campaign came to focus on the Juan del Granado
Juan del Granado
Juan del Granado is a Bolivian human-rights lawyer and politician, mayor of La Paz and founder of the Without Fear Movement , a progressive political party...
's discourse against corruption and in favour of participatory democracy
Participatory democracy
Participatory Democracy, also known as Deliberative Democracy, Direct Democracy and Real Democracy , is a process where political decisions are made directly by regular people...
. In the end del Granado, a known human rights lawyer and parliamentarian, won the election by a very thin margin. In neighbouring El Alto, reducing commuting times between La Paz and El Alto remained high on the agenda, as in previous local elections. The incumbent CONDEPA had launched Remedios Loza, a popular TV figure, as their candidate. However CONDEPA was weakened in the city not only by the impact of the loss of its national leader, but also suffered from impopularity due to corruption and mismanagement in the municipality. The party was routed by the MIR, as the MIR leader José Luis Paredes was elected mayor with 45% of the votes. The electoral intervention of MNR in the city was quite low-key, in spite of the party having a strong local organization. Rather than seeking to get their candidate elected as mayor, the party focused on promoting their leader Goni
Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada
Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada y Sánchez de Bustamante , familiarly known as "Goni", is a Bolivian politician, businessman, and former President of Bolivia. A lifelong member of the Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario , he is credited for using "shock therapy", the economic theory championed by then...
ahead of the 2002 presidential election
Bolivian presidential election, 2002
The 2002 Bolivian presidential election took place on 30 June 2002. The election took place on the same day as the 2002 Bolivian legislative election. No candidate won over half of the vote, therefore the National Congress of Bolivia elected the president from the two candidates who had received...
. MNR obtained a single seat in the El Alto municipal council.
Cochabamba Department
Evo Morales' new platform MAS obtained 39% of the votes in the Cochabamba Department, winning seven mayoral posts. The MAS vote in Cochabamba was almost completely confined to the Chapare, Carrasco and Ayopaya provinces. In the capital of the Department (CochabambaCochabamba
Cochabamba is a city in central Bolivia, located in a valley bearing the same name in the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cochabamba Department and is the fourth largest city in Bolivia with an urban population of 608,276 and a metropolitan population of more than 1,000,000 people...
) the MAS mayoral candidate only got 0.88% (less than the Communist Party candidate, Alejo Veliz who got 1.1%). The mayoral post of Cochabamba was won by Manfred Reyes Villa
Manfred Reyes Villa
Manfred Reyes Villa is a Bolivian politician, who was mayor of Cochabamba four times and ran unsuccessfully for the presidency in 2002 and 2009 against Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada and Evo Morales Ayma. He founded and led the Nueva Fuerza Republicana political party...
of the New Republican Force
New Republican Force
The New Republican Force is a center-right personalist political party in Bolivia.At the legislative elections in 2002, the party won 26.5 % of the popular vote and 25 out of 130 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and two out of 27 seats in the Senate...
, who got 51.2% of the votes in the city.
Santa Cruz Department
The regional capital Santa Cruz de la Sierra witnessed a fierce electoral battle between the incumbent UCS mayor Johnny Férnandez and Percy Férnandez of MNR, out of which the UCS candidate emerged victorious.In Charagua
Charagua
Charagua is a small town in the southern part of Bolivia. It is the principal village of the Cordillera province. Most inhabitants speak Guaraní. The city was briefly occupied by the Paraguayan army in April 1935, during the last stages of the Chaco War....
ADN, MNR, MIR, MBL and NFR won one seat each.