User:Krisgabwoosh/1978 Bolivian general election

1978 Bolivian general election
	Presidential election
Registered	1,922,556
Turnout	103.49%
President before election; Hugo Banzer; FFAA	Elected president ; Election results annulled; Juan Pereda (UNP) installed in a coup d'état;
	Legislative election
	All 27 seats in the National Senate; All 111 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
National Senate
Chamber of Deputies

The 1978 Bolivian general election was held on Sunday, 9 July 1978. Voters went to the polls to elect the president and vice president and all seats in the bicameral 138-member National Congress, for a four-year term. This was the first general election of the democratic transition.

In the span of fourteen years, Bolivia experienced a series of successive military dictatorships and had not held a general election since 1966. The most recent regime, headed by Hugo Banzer, took control in 1971 [es] and held power for six years. By 1977, pressured by several internal and external factors, Banzer opened the way for democratization and scheduled new elections for the following year. A broad amnesty was declared, and political activity was legalized for the first time since 1974.

Former presidents Hernán Siles Zuazo of the Democratic and Popular Unity Front and Víctor Paz Estenssoro of the Democratic Alliance of the National Revolution returned from exile to contest the election. The government backed its own candidate: Juan Pereda of the Nationalist Union of the People. An additional six fronts ran candidates; Luciano Tapia became the first indigenous person to run for president, and Domitila Chungara the first woman for vice president.

Official tallies gave the victory to Pereda, with a majority of the popular vote. However, the results were beset by evident signs of widespread and systematic electoral fraud. Official data was altered from day to day, opposition votes were subtracted, Pereda's margin was inflated, and the final count indicated that 67,155 more votes were cast than existed registered voters. Amid a public outcry, electoral authorities stepped in to annul the results. Pereda seized power in a coup d'état days later.

Background

Beginning in 1964, Bolivia entered a protracted period of military dictatorship under the tutelage of the Armed Forces. (?) For fourteen years – with a brief interregnum of constitutional governance from 1966 to 1969 – the nation was subjected to a series of successive military governments. (MG190) The most recent regime, under the leadership of Hugo Banzer, came to power in 1971 and had been in office for nearly six-and-a-half years at the start of 1978.

Military rule and democratic opening

For the first half of his administration, Banzer ruled alongside the conservative elements of the civilian political class that had abetted his ascent to power. Between 1971 and 1974, the Armed Forced incorporated the Nationalist Popular Front (FPN), a curious coalition that brought together two erstwhile rivals: the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement (MNR) of Víctor Paz Estenssoro and the Bolivian Socialist Falange (FSB) of Mario Gutiérrez.(MG 526-528) This pact lasted until 1974, by which time relations between political heads and the military had soured, leading Banzer to enact a self-coup. All political and trade union activity was banned, and a more outwardly totalitarian regime took hold. (MG 534)

Laid out under Law Decree № 11947 – the edict that regulated Banzer's 1974 consolidation of power – was an outline for the eventual transition toward constitutional government. (APDHB 7) The plan foresaw continued military rule until 1980 when a general election was to be called. (MG 534) This election would be preceded by a period of "institutionalization" between 1978 and 1979, in which several constitutional reforms were to be put to a public referendum. Such reforms included the replacement of the legislature in favor of a "body of representatives" of different social strata and a reformulated statute governing the organization of political parties, among other legal changes intended to consolidate the "transformations" made since Banzer first assumed office in 1971. (APDHB 8)

Leading into 1978, a series of internal and external pressures forced to military the accelerate its election schedule. (MG 534) In the international sphere, the newly-inaugurated Jimmy Carter administration in the United States had begun to orient away from a foreign policy of regime change and support for authoritarian governments toward one backing gradual democratization in Latin America. (APDHB 10-11) At home, the Banzer-backed economic model showed signs of a looming financial crisis. (APDHB 11-12) ... women's strike

Electoral system

Candidates and campaigns

Nationalist Union of the People

Alliance				Leader
	Juan Pereda Nationalist Union of the People	FSB	Bolivian Socialist Falange	Gastón Moreira
		MNR	Revolutionary Nationalist Movement	Rubén Julio
		PRA	Authentic Revolutionary Party	Jorge Ríos
		UNB	Barrientist National Union
		PIR	Revolutionary Left Party	Ricardo Anaya [ru]
		CUN	National Unity Committee	Ronald MacLean
Source: APDHB 1979, p. 26

Democratic and Popular Unity Front

Alliance				Leader
	Hernán Siles Zuazo Democratic and Popular Unity Front	MNRI	Left-wing Revolutionary Nationalist Movement	Hernán Siles
		PCB	Communist Party of Bolivia	Jorge Kolle
		MIR	Revolutionary Left Movement	Jaime Paz
		MIN	National Left Movement	Luis Sandoval
		PS-A	Socialist Party – Aponte	Guillermo Aponte
		MRTK	Túpac Katari Revolutionary Movement	Clemente Ramos
Source: APDHB 1979, p. 26

Democratic Alliance of the National Revolution

Alliance				Leader
	Víctor Paz Estenssoro Democratic Alliance of the National Revolution	MNRH	Historic Revolutionary Nationalist Movement	Víctor Paz
		PRA	Authentic Revolutionary Party	Wálter Guevara
Source: APDHB 1979, p. 26

Minor parties and alliances

Results

Candidate				Votes	%
	Juan Pereda	Alfredo Franco	Nationalist Union of the People	985,140	50.88
	Hernán Siles Zuazo	Edil Sandoval Morón	Democratic and Popular Unity Front	484,383	25.01
	Víctor Paz Estenssoro	Wálter Guevara	Democratic Alliance of the National Revolution	213,662	11.03
	René Bernal	Remio Di Natale	Christian Democratic Party	167,131	8.63
	Juan Pereda	Jaime Arellano	Revolutionary Nationalist Movement of the People	40,905	2.11
	Casiano Amurrio	Domitila Chungara	Revolutionary Left Front	23,459	1.21
	Luciano Tapia	Isidoro Copa	Túpac Katari Indian Movement	12,207	0.63
	Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz	Carlos Gómez	Socialist Party	8,323	0.43
	René Bernal	Remio Di Natale	Eastern Rural Party	1,171	0.06
Total				1,936,381	100.00

Valid votes				1,936,381	97.32
Invalid/blank votes				53,330	2.68
Total votes				1,989,711	100.00
Registered voters/turnout				1,922,556	103.49
Source: Mesa Gisbert 2016, p. 191

By department

APDHB p. 69

Chuquisaca: UDP, UNP
La Paz: UNP, UDP
Cochabamba: UNP, PDC
Oruro (Presencia 20/07/78 p. 4): PDC, UNP
Potosi: UNP, UDP
Tarija: UNP, ADRN
Santa Cruz: UNP, ADRN
Beni: UNP, ADRN
Pando: UNP, ADRN

https://archive.org/details/poderyfuerzasarm0000prad

https://biblioteca.cipca.org.bo/cuadernos-de-investigacion/el-nuevo-campesinado-ante-el-fraude

Aftermath

References

Notes

Footnotes

Works cited

Print publications

Presencia [es] (in Spanish). La Paz. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

Books and encyclopedias

Aguiló, Federico (1993). "Nunca más" para Bolivia (in Spanish). Cochabamba: APDHB; IESE-UMSS. OCLC 1420894452.
Asamblea Permanente de Derechos Humanos de Bolivia (1979). El fraude electoral: Un atentado contra la voluntad popular. Elecciones nacionales del 9 de julio de 1978 (in Spanish). La Paz: Ediciones de la APDHB. OCLC 245662988.
Céspedes, Marcelo (1982). Los bolivianos ¿estamos maduros para la democracia?: Las experiencias electorales de 1978, 1979 y 1980 (in Spanish). La Paz: Empresa Editora Khana Cruz. OCLC 9644907.
De Mesa, José; Gisbert, Teresa; Mesa Gisbert, Carlos D. Historia de Bolivia (in Spanish) (9th ed.). La Paz: Editorial Gisbert. OCLC 969784477.
Leaño Román, Eduardo (2005). Sistemas electorales en Bolivia: La conversión de votos en cargos del Ejecutivo y Legislativo (in Spanish). La Paz: Corte Nacional Electoral. OCLC 100608037.
Mesa Gisbert, Carlos D. (2016). Presidentes de Bolivia: Entre urnas y fusiles. El poder ejecutivo: Los ministros de Estado (in Spanish) (5th ed.). La Paz: Editorial Gisbert. ISBN 978-99974-834-8-5.