1985 Bolivian general election

General elections were held in Bolivia on 14 July 1985.[1] As no candidate for the presidency received over 50% of the vote, the National Congress was required to elect a President on 4 August. Although Hugo Banzer of Nationalist Democratic Action received the most public votes, Congress elected Víctor Paz Estenssoro of the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement.[2]

Results

Election result by department:

  Departments where Paz Estenssoro won

  Departments where Banzer won

Party	Presidential candidate	Votes	%	Seats
				Chamber	+/–	Senate	+/–
Nationalist Democratic Action	Hugo Banzer	493,735	32.8	41	+17	10	+4
Revolutionary Nationalist Movement	Víctor Paz Estenssoro	456,704	30.4	43	–	16	–
Revolutionary Left Movement	Jaime Paz Zamora	153,143	10.2	15	–	1	–
Leftwing Revolutionary Nationalist Movement	Roberto Jordan Pando	82,418	5.5	8	–	0	–
Revolutionary Nationalist Movement-Vanguard	Carlos Serrate Reich	72,197	4.8	6	New	0	New
Socialist Party-1	Ramiro Velasco Romero	38,786	2.5	5	–5	0	–1
United People's Front	Antonio Araníbar Quiroga	38,124	2.5	4	–	0	–
Revolutionary Liberation Movement Tupaq Katari	Jenaro Flores Santos	31,678	2.1	2	New	0	New
Christian Democratic Party	Luis Ossio	24,079	1.6	3	–	0	–
Bolivian Socialist Falange	David Añez Pedraza	19,985	1.3	3	0	0	0
Tupaj Katari Revolutionary Movement	Macabeo Chila Prieto	16,269	1.1	0	New	0	New
Revolutionary Workers' Party	Guillermo Lora	13,712	0.9	0	New	0	New
Popular Civic Action	Raúl Catacora Cordova	12,918	0.9	0	New	0	New
Leftwing Revolutionary Nationalist Movement – 1	Francisco Figueroa	11,696	0.8	0	–	0	–
United Left	Isaac Sandoval Rodríguez	10,892	0.7	0	New	0	New
Progressive National Force	Luis Fernando Mostajo	9,635	0.6	0	New	0	New
Revolutionary Humanist Action	Juan Santa Cruz	9,420	0.6	0	New	0	New
National Renewal Alliance Party	Humberto Cayoja Riart	8,665	0.6	0	New	0	New
Invalid/blank votes		224,309	–	–	–	–	–
Total		1,728,365	100	130	0	27	0
Registered voters/turnout		2,108,458	82.0	–	–	–	–
Source: Nohlen

By department

Department	NDA	RNM	RLM	Others
Beni	37.44%	38.71%	6.34%	17.51%
Chuquisaca	21.37%	25.39%	21.90%	31.34%
Cochabamba	34.26%	31.00%	11.51%	23.22%
La Paz	36.39%	19.57%	9.12%	34.92%
Oruro	28.33%	28.86%	12.05%	30.76%
Pando	33.30%	45.96%	4.43%	16.31%
Potosi	20.88%	33.06%	15.19%	30.87%
Santa Cruz	38.60%	42.77%	5.57%	13.06%
Tarija	24.13%	52.81%	6.65%	16.41%
Source: Constituency-Level Election Archive

Congressional ballot

Only Hugo Banzer of Nationalist Democratic Action and Víctor Paz Estenssoro of the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement contested the Congressional ballot. Whilst Banzer was only supported by his own party, Paz also received the votes of the Revolutionary Left Movement, the Leftwing Revolutionary Nationalist Movement, the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement-Vanguard, the Christian Democratic Party and the Revolutionary Liberation Movement Tupaq Katari. Socialist Party-1, the Bolivian Socialist Falange and the United People's Front did not support either candidate.[3]

Candidate	Party	Votes	%
Víctor Paz Estenssoro	Revolutionary Nationalist Movement	94	64.8
Hugo Banzer	Nationalist Democratic Action	51	35.2
Invalid/blank votes		0	–
Total		145	100
Registered voters/turnout		157	92.4
Source: Morales

See also

• Bolivian National Congress, 1985–1989

References

1. Nohlen, D (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume II, p133 ISBN 978-0-19-928358-3
2. Nohlen, p158
3. Walter Q Morales (2003) A brief history of Bolivia New York: Facts On File, p205