President of Bolivia

The President of Bolivia (Spanish: Presidente de Bolivia), officially

known as the President of the Plurinational State of Bolivia
President of the
(Spanish: Presidente del Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia), is head of Plurinational State of
state and head of government of Bolivia. According to the Bolivian Bolivia
Constitution, the president is elected by popular vote to a five-year Presidente del Estado
term with a two-term limit.[2] If no candidate wins a majority, the top Plurinacional de Bolivia
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
democratically elected leaders. In Bolivia, these presidents are Incumbent
divided between two groups. The first are what are classified as Jeanine Áñez
"Constitucionales" having come to power legally or through quasi- since 12 November 2019.
legal means (achieving power through a revolution or coup d’état
but later constitutionalised).[3] The rest are either de facto having Residence Palacio Quemado
come to power militarily and never constitutionalised, or interim Seat La Paz
having been placed in power only until a new president is chosen. Nominator Plurinational Electoral
In 1983, a poll was taken by Última Hora newspaper to determine Organ
which seven historical presidents were regarded as most significant. Appointer Direct popular vote (two
The "winners" were Antonio José de Sucre, Andrés de Santa Cruz, rounds if necessary)
Manuel Isidoro Belzu, Mariano Melgarejo, Aniceto Arce, Ismael
Term Five years, renewable
Montes, and Víctor Paz Estenssoro.
length once
Leaders adopted titles such as "Liberator of Bolivia" (used by Simón Inaugural Simón Bolívar
Bolívar and Antonio José de Sucre), and "Supreme Protector" (by holder
Andrés de Santa Cruz).
Formation 11 August 1825
Two women served as head of state: First Simón Bolívar
holder
Lidia Gueiler Tejada (as Constitutional Interim President)
(1979–1980) Deputy Vice President of Bolivia
Jeanine Añez Chávez (as Constitutional Interim Salary $3,327 USD per
President) (2019–2020) month[1]
Website www.presidencia.gob.bo
Prior to 2009, if no candidate won more than half of the popular
(http://www.presidencia.
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). gob.bo/)

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
 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/co
 mparing-latin-america-s-presidential-salaries-minimum-wage-shocking.htm). Latin Post.
Retrieved 4 January 2020.
2. "The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency" (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/t
he-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 (htt
ps://doi.org/10.7767%2Fjbla-2016-0101). ISSN 2194-3680 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/2194
-3680).
4. "Evo Morales Lands in Argentina, Where He Will Be Granted Refugee Status" (https://www.nyti
mes.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"
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/bolivia-to-hold-new-elections-after-protests-and-interna
tional-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-ele
ctions/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"
(https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-bolivia-evo-morales-elections-voting-fraud-and-irreg
ularities-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.o
rg/web/20090521023641/http://www.presidencia.gob.bo/download/constitucion.pdf) (PDF).
pp. 36–37. Archived from the original (http://www.presidencia.gob.bo/download/constitucion.pd
f) (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-razo
n.com/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_1693030684.html) on 26 September 2012. Retrieved 24 September 2012.

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

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=President_of_Bolivia&oldid=984583270"

This page was last edited on 20 October 2020, at 22:09 (UTC).

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