Plurinational Legislative Assembly

Plurinational Legislative Assembly

Asamblea Legislativa Plurinacional
Plurinational Legislative Assembly ; Asamblea Legislativa Plurinacional
Type
Type	Bicameral
Houses	Chamber of Senators,; Chamber of Deputies
History
Founded	1825 unicameral, 1831 bicameral
Leadership
President of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly (ex oficio as Vice President)	David Choquehuanca, MAS ; since 8 November 2020
President of the Senate	Andrónico Rodríguez, MAS ; since 4 November 2020
President of the Chamber of Deputies	Israel Huaytari, MAS ; since 3 November 2023
Structure
Seats	166; 36 Senators; 130 Deputies
Chamber of Senators political groups	Government (21): MAS-IPSP (21) Opposition (15):; Civic Community (11); Creemos (4)
Chamber of Deputies political groups	Government (75): MAS-IPSP (75) Opposition (55):; Civic Community (39) Creemos (PDC–UCS) (16)
Elections
Chamber of Senators voting system	Party-list proportional representation
Chamber of Deputies voting system	Additional Member System
Last Chamber of Senators election	18 October 2020
Last Chamber of Deputies election	18 October 2020
Next Chamber of Senators election	2025
Next Chamber of Deputies election	2025
Meeting place
	New headquarters of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly; La Paz, Bolivia
Website
	https://web.senado.gob.bo/ ; http://www.diputados.bo

16°29′46″S 68°07′59″W / 16.49611°S 68.13306°W / -16.49611; -68.13306

The Plurinational Legislative Assembly (Spanish: Asamblea Legislativa Plurinacional) is the national legislature of Bolivia, placed in La Paz, the country's seat of government.

The assembly is bicameral, consisting of a lower house (the Chamber of Deputies or Cámara de Diputados) and an upper house (the Chamber of Senators, or Cámara de Senadores). The Vice President of Bolivia also serves as the ex officio President of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly. Each house elects its own directorate: a President, first and second Vice Presidents, and three or four Secretaries (for the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, respectively). Each party is said to have a seat (Spanish: bancada) consisting of its legislators. The representatives of each department comprise a brigade (brigada). Each house considers legislation in standing committees.

The Chamber of Senators has 36 seats. Each of the country's nine departments returns four senators elected by proportional representation (using the D'Hondt method).^[1] (From 1985 to 2009, the Senate had 27 seats: three seats per department: two from the party or formula that receives the most votes, with the third senator representing the second-placed party.) Senators are elected from party lists to serve five-year terms, and the minimum age to hold a Senate seat is 35 years.

The Chamber of Deputies comprises 130 seats, elected using the additional member system: 70 deputies are elected to represent single-member electoral districts, 7 of which are Indigenous or Campesino seats elected by the usos y costumbres of minority groups, 60 are elected from party lists on a departmental basis.^[1] Deputies also serve five-year terms, and must be aged at least 25 on the day of the election. Party lists are required to alternate between men and women, and in the single-member districts, men are required to run with a female alternate, and vice versa. At least 50% of the deputies from single-member districts are required to be women.

Both the Chamber of Senators, and the proportional part of the Chamber of Deputies is elected based on the vote for the presidential candidates, while the deputies from the single-member districts are elected separately.^[1]

The legislative body was formerly known as the National Congress (Spanish: Congreso Nacional).

2020–2025 Congress



Party		Presidential candidate	Votes	%	Seats
Party		Presidential candidate	Votes	%	Chamber	+/–^[a]	Senate	+/–^[a]
	Movement for Socialism	Luis Arce	3,393,978	55.10	75	+8	21	0
	Civic Community	Carlos Mesa	1,775,943	28.83	39	–11	11	–3
	Creemos	Luis Fernando Camacho	862,184	14.00	16	New	4	New
	Front For Victory	Chi Hyun Chung	95,245	1.55	0	0	0	0
	National Action Party of Bolivia	Feliciano Mamani	31,770	0.52	0	0	0	0
Total			6,159,120	100.00	130	0	36	0

Valid votes			6,159,120	94.99
Invalid/blank votes			324,773	5.01
Total votes			6,483,893	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			7,332,926	88.42
Source: OEP

2015–2020 Congress



Party		Presidential candidate	Votes	%	Seats
Party		Presidential candidate	Votes	%	Chamber	+/–	Senate	+/–
	Movement for Socialism	Evo Morales	3,173,304	61.36	88	0	25	–1
	Democrat Unity	Samuel Doria Medina	1,253,288	24.23	32	–	9	–
	Christian Democratic Party	Jorge Quiroga	467,311	9.04	10	–	2	–
	Movement Without Fear	Juan del Granado	140,285	2.71	0	–4	0	–
	Green Party of Bolivia	Fernando Vargas	137,240	2.65	0	–	0	–
Total			5,171,428	100.00	130	0	36	0

Valid votes			5,171,428	94.24
Invalid/blank votes			316,248	5.76
Total votes			5,487,676	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			6,243,138	87.90
Source: TSE

2010–2015 Congress

The 2010–2015 Plurinational Legislative Assembly were controlled in both houses by the governing Movement for Socialism (MAS-IPSP), elected with a 2/3 supermajority. Just four incumbent members of the 2005–2010 Congress returned: Deputy Antonio Franco; Deputy Javier Zabaleta (MAS-IPSP/MSM); Senator René Martínez (MAS-IPSP), who was a deputy; and Senator Róger Pinto, previously of Podemos and now representing PPB-CN.^[2] As part of a break between the MAS-IPSP and its ally the Without Fear Movement (MSM), the latter party's four deputies, elected on the MAS slate pledged in late March 2010, "to act in accord with our political identity, with our conscience, and with the people who elected us with their vote." Consequently, MAS-IPSP now has 84 members in the Chambers of Deputies, while the MSM has four.^[3]

Congressional elections were held as part of general elections on 9 December 2009. After the votes were counted, party strengths in Congress were as follows:



Party		Presidential candidate	Votes	%	Seats
Party		Presidential candidate	Votes	%	Chamber	+/–	Senate	+/–
	Movement for Socialism	Evo Morales	2,943,209	64.22	88	+16	26	+14
	Plan Progress for Bolivia – National Convergence	Manfred Reyes Villa	1,212,795	26.46	37	+30	10	+9
	National Unity Front	Samuel Doria Medina	258,971	5.65	3	–5	0	–1
	Social Alliance	René Joaquino Carlos	106,027	2.31	2	New	0	New
	Social Patriotic Unity Movement	Ana María Flores	23,257	0.51	0	New	0	New
	Gente	Román Loayza	15,627	0.34	0	New	0	New
	Peoples for Liberty and Sovereignty	Alejo Véliz	12,995	0.28	0	New	0	New
	Social Democratic Bolivia	Rime Choquehuanca	9,905	0.22	0	New	0	New
Total			4,582,786	100.00	130	0	36	+9

Valid votes			4,582,786	94.31
Invalid/blank votes			276,654	5.69
Total votes			4,859,440	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			5,139,554	94.55
Source: CNE

The President of the Senate was Ana María Romero de Campero (MAS-IPSP, La Paz), elected on 19 January 2010, but she died on 26 October 2010. Seventeen of 36 members of the Senate are women.^[4]^[5] The 26-member MAS-IPSP majority includes all four senators from La Paz, Oruro, and Potosí; three senators from Cochabamba and Chuquisaca; and two senators from each of Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando, and Tarija.^[2]

The President of the Chamber of Deputies, elected on 19 January 2010, is Héctor Arce (MAS-IPSP). 33 of 130 deputies (25.38%) are women.^[6]

Prior Congresses

2005–2010 Congress

Congressional elections were held on 18 December 2005, concurrently with the 2005 presidential election.



Party		Presidential candidate	Votes	%	Seats
Party		Presidential candidate	Votes	%	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
Total			2,873,801	100.00	130	0	27	0

Valid votes			2,873,801	92.63
Invalid/blank votes			228,616	7.37
Total votes			3,102,417	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			3,671,152	84.51
Source: IFES, IFES

The Chamber of Deputies had the following leadership: President Edmundo Novillo Aguilar (MAS, Cochabamba); First Vice President Julia Ramos (MAS); Second Vice President Oscar Urenda (Social Democratic Power, Podemos); First Secretary Oscar Chirinos (MAS); Second Secretary Alex Cerrogrande (MAS); Third Secretary Jorge Becerra (National Unity Front, UN), and Fourth Secretary Roxana Sandoval (Revolutionary Nationalist Movement, MNR).^[7]

2002–2005 Congress

Congressional elections were held on 30 June 2002. After the votes were counted, party strengths in Congress were as follows:



Party		Presidential candidate	Votes	%	Seats
Party		Presidential candidate	Votes	%	Chamber	+/–	Senate	+/–
	MNR–MBL	Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada	624,126	22.46	36	+5	11	+6
	Movement for Socialism	Evo Morales	581,884	20.94	27	New	8	New
	New Republican Force	Manfred Reyes Villa	581,163	20.91	25	–	2	–
	MIR–FRI	Jaime Paz Zamora	453,375	16.32	26	+3	5	–1
	Pachakuti Indigenous Movement	Felipe Quispe	169,239	6.09	6	New	0	New
	UCS–FSB	Jhonny Fernández [es]	153,210	5.51	5	–16	0	–2
	Nationalist Democratic Action	Ronald MacLean Abaroa	94,386	3.40	4	–	0	–
	Freedom and Justice Party	Alberto Costa	75,522	2.72	0	New	0	New
	Socialist Party	Rolando Morales	18,162	0.65	1	New	0	New
	Citizens' Movement for Change	René Blattmann	17,405	0.63	0	New	0	New
	Conscience of Fatherland	Nicolás Valdivia	10,336	0.37	0	–19	0	–3
Total			2,778,808	100.00	130	0	27	0

Valid votes			2,778,808	92.81
Invalid/blank votes			215,257	7.19
Total votes			2,994,065	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			4,155,055	72.06

The next election was scheduled to take place in June 2007, but was brought forward to December 2005 on a decision from interim President Eduardo Rodríguez.

Buildings

The two chambers of Congress meet in the legislative palace located on Plaza Murillo, La Paz's main city-centre square. Plaza Murillo is also flanked by the presidential palace (informally known as the Palacio Quemado – the "Burnt Palace" – on account of repeated attempts to raze it to the ground in the 19th century) and the cathedral of Nuestra Señora de La Paz. Prior to becoming the seat of the legislature in 1904, the congress building had, at different times, housed a convent and a university.

The Vice-President, in his capacity as President of Congress, has an imposing suite of offices on Calle Mercado in central La Paz. The building, designed by Emilio Villanueva, was erected during the 1920s and was originally intended to serve as the headquarters of Bolivia's central bank (Banco de la Nación Boliviana). Under Jaime Paz Zamora's 1989–1993 presidency, the building was reassigned to the vice-presidency, but the vice-presidential staff did not relocate entirely until major reconstruction and renovation work, starting in 1997, had been carried out. The Library of Congress and the National Congressional Archive are also located on the premises.