President of Bolivia

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

President of the Plurinational State of Bolivia Presidente del Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia
Coat of arms of Bolivia
Incumbent Jeanine Áñez Interim since 12 November 2019
Residence	Palacio Quemado
Term length	Five years
Inaugural holder	Simón Bolívar
Formation	11 August 1825
Deputy	Vice President of Bolivia
Salary	$3,327 USD per month[1]
Website	www.presidencia.gob.bo

History

Further information: List of presidents of Bolivia

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. Also, the history of the presidency has involved civil wars , more than 190 coups and violence.

In 1983, a poll was taken by Última Hora newspaper to determine which seven historical presidents were regarded as most significant. The "winners" were Antonio José de Sucre, Andrés de Santa Cruz, Manuel Isidoro Belzu, Mariano Melgarejo, Aniceto Arce, Ismael Montes, and Víctor Paz Estenssoro.

Leaders adopted titles such as "Liberator of Bolivia" (used by Simón Bolívar and Antonio José de Sucre), and "Supreme Protector" (by Andrés de Santa Cruz).

Two women served as head of state:

• Lidia Gueiler Tejada (as Constitutional Interim President) (1979–1980)
• Jeanine Añez Chávez (as Constitutional President) (2019–)

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 Morale's 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.[3]

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.[4]

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[5] 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.

Elections

See article: Bolivian general election, 2019

Party		Presidential candidate	Votes	%
	Movement for Socialism	Evo Morales	2,889,359	47.08	Results annulled
	Civic Community	Carlos Mesa	2,240,920	36.51
	Christian Democratic Party	Chi Hyun Chung	539,081	8.78
	Democrat Social Movement[lower-alpha 1]	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
	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

Presidential succession

Main article: 2019 Bolivian political crisis

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.[6]

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.[7]

See also

• History of Bolivia
• Politics of Bolivia

Notes

1. 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". Latin Post. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
2. "The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency". www.cia.gov. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
3. "Evo Morales Lands in Argentina, Where He Will Be Granted Refugee Status".
4. Faiola, Anthony. "Evo Morales resigns as Bolivia's president after OAS election audit, protests". The Washington Post. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
5. Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche. "Bolivia: Interim president bars Morales from new elections | DW | 15.11.2019". DW.COM. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
6. "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 (PDF). pp. 36–37. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 May 2009. Retrieved 12 February 2009.
7. Corz, Carlos (23 September 2012). "Montaño asume la Presidencia interina de Bolivia, Evo va a la ONU y hablará del mar". La Razón. Archived from the original on 26 September 2012. Retrieved 24 September 2012.

External links

• (in Spanish) Gallery of Presidents of Bolivia