User:Krisgabwoosh/1979 Bolivian general election

1979 Bolivian general election

1 July 1979
Presidential election
Registered	1,871,070
Turnout	90.22%
Candidate Hernán Siles Zuazo Víctor Paz Estenssoro Hugo Banzer Party MNRI MNR ADN Alliance UDP MNR-A Running mate Jaime Paz Zamora Luis Ossio Mario Rolón Anaya Popular vote 528,696 527,184 218,587 Percentage 35.98% 35.88% 14.88%
President before election David Padilla FFAA Elected president Election results annulled Wálter Guevara (PRA) elected acting president
Legislative election
All 27 seats in the National Senate All 117 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
Party Seats +/– National Senate Democratic and Popular Union 8 +8 Revolutionary Nationalist Movement 16 +16 Nationalist Democratic Action 3 New Chamber of Deputies Democratic and Popular Union 38 +38 Revolutionary Nationalist Movement 48 +48 Nationalist Democratic Action 19 New Socialist Party – 1 5 +5 Popular Alliance for National Integration 5 New Túpac Katari Indian Movement 1 +1 Bolivian Union Party 1 New This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

The 1979 Bolivian general election was held on Sunday, 1 July 1979. Voters went to the polls to elect the president and vice president and all seats in the bicameral 144-member National Congress, for a four-year term. No candidate having won a majority in the first round, the election went to parliament, which selected between the top three most-voted contenders. After multiple failed ballots, an agreement was reached to elect Wálter Guevara as acting president pending new elections.

The democratic transition in Bolivia began in 1978, when Hugo Banzer scheduled the first general election in twelve years for 9 July. The government's candidate, Juan Pereda, won the vote, but evident electoral fraud led election authorities to annul the results. Pereda seized power in a coup d'état on 21 July and scheduled new elections for 1980 but was, in turn, ousted in another coup d'état that installed David Padilla on 24 November. The new military junta brought forward the date of the election to 1979.

Former presidents Hernán Siles Zuazo of the Democratic and Popular Unity coalition and Víctor Paz Estenssoro of the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement – Alliance were once again the central candidates of this election, with the added component of Hugo Banzer's newly-formed Nationalist Democratic Action. An additional five minor fronts filed to appear on the ballot. Despite some anomalies, the election was relatively clean compared to historical processes.

In the end, the vote totals of the two main candidates were separated by 1,512 votes (0.10%), the narrowest national popular vote victory in recent history. Siles won the plurality of the popular vote, while Paz's alliance won a comfortable congressional majority. Congress convened on 1 August but could not coalesce around a single candidate, leading to the annulment of the results and the election of Wálter Guevara as acting president until another election could be held in 1980.

Candidates and campaigns

Parties and alliances

Candidate		Endorsement			Ideology
	Hernán Siles Zuazo Democratic and Popular Union MNRI		MNRI	Left-wing Revolutionary Nationalist Movement	Left-wing nationalism
			PCB	Communist Party of Bolivia	Communism
			MIR	Revolutionary Left Movement	Left-wing nationalism
			MIN	Movement of the National Left	Left-wing nationalism
			PSB-A	Socialist Party of Bolivia – Atauichi	Socialism
			MPLN	Popular Movement for National Liberation	Communism
			ALIN	Alliance of the National Left	Left-wing nationalism
			PRIN-M	Revolutionary Party of the Nationalist Left – Moller	Left-wing nationalism
			MRE	Revolutionary Spartacus Movement	Revolutionary socialism
			POR-TP	Revolutionary Workers' Party (Trotskyist–Posadist)	Communism
			ODEUR	Organization of Revolutionary Unity	Revolutionary socialism
	Víctor Paz Estenssoro MNR – Alliance MNR		MNR	Revolutionary Nationalist Movement	Revolutionary nationalism
			PRA	Authentic Revolutionary Party	Revolutionary nationalism
			PDC	Christian Democratic Party	Christian democracy
			FRI	Revolutionary Left Front	Left-wing nationalism
			MRTK	Túpac Katari Revolutionary Movement	Indigenismo
	Hugo Banzer Nationalist Democratic Action ADN		ADN	Nationalist Democratic Action	Right-wing nationalism
			FSB-M	Bolivian Socialist Falange – Moreira	Falangism
			PRA-R	Authentic Revolutionary Party – Ríos	Revolutionary nationalism
			ARB	Barrientist Revolutionary Alliance	Barrientismo
			MNR-J	Revolutionary Nationalist Movement – Julio	Revolutionary nationalism
	René Bernal Popular Alliance for National Integration MARC		MARC	Revolutionary Agrarian Movement of the Bolivian Peasantry	Christian nationalism
			FSB	Bolivian Socialist Falange	Falangism

Results

Presidential results

Analysis

OEP claims VO won 100 more votes in Chuquisaca (see Presencia 31 jULY)

1979 Bolivian presidential election

Candidate		Running mate		Party or alliance		Votes	%
	Hernán Siles Zuazo		Jaime Paz Zamora		Democratic and Popular Union	528,696	35.98
	Víctor Paz Estenssoro		Luis Ossio		Revolutionary Nationalist Movement	527,184	35.88
	Hugo Banzer		Mario Rolón Anaya		Nationalist Democratic Action	218,587	14.88
	Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz		Jaime Taborga		Socialist Party – 1	70,765	4.82
	René Bernal		Mario Gutiérrez		Popular Alliance for National Integration	60,262	4.10
	Luciano Tapia		Eufronio Vélez		Túpac Katari Indian Movement	28,344	1.93
	Wálter Gonzales		Benjamín Saravia		Bolivian Union Party	18,979	1.29
	Ricardo Catoira		Filemón Escobar		Workers' Vanguard	16,660	1.13
Total						1,469,477	100.00
Valid votes						1,469,477	86.78
Invalid/blank votes						223,856	13.22
Total votes						1,693,333	100.00
Registered voters/turnout						1,876,920	90.22
Source: Plurinational Electoral Organ | Electoral Atlas

By department

The results by department contributed heavily to the gridlock that followed the election. (?) The UDP won in just two departments: La Paz and Cochabamba. Results-wise, the coalition owed its narrow popular vote plurality to its formidable performance in La Paz, whose population, compared to the other eight departments, made it fundamental to winning the election. In contrast, the second-place MNR-A won in the remaining seven departments, giving it a comfortable majority bench in parliament, even as it fell short of taking the most votes nationwide.

1979 Bolivian general election by department

Ballot		Chuquisaca		La Paz		Cochabamba		Oruro		Potosí		Tarija		Santa Cruz		Beni		Pando
		Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%
	UDP	34,575	38.56	260,971	54.76	67,634	29.20	36,214	31.31	68,898	33.48	9,726	14.70	43,679	18.33	6,103	15.85	896	12.31
	MNR-A	34,609	38.60	78,023	16.37	64,640	27.91	46,232	39.97	105,782	51.41	43,601	65.92	134,300	56.35	15,885	41.27	4,112	46.50
	ADN	10,032	11.09	77,614	16.29	42,983	18.56	10,633	9.19	16,090	7,82	9,774	14.78	36,696	15.40	13,044	33.88	1,721	23.65
	PS-1	3,965	4.42	24,553	5.15	28,163	12.16	6,466	5.59	3,906	1.90	595	0.90	2,932	1.23	166	0.43	19	0.26
	APIN	2,185	2.44	8,454	1.77	16,449	7.10	10,819	9.35	2,789	1.36	811	1.23	15,412	6.47	2,889	7.50	454	6.24
	MITKA	1,343	1.50	16,557	3.47	3,744	1.62	2,707	2.34	2,677	1.30	277	0.42	957	0.40	65	0.17	17	0.23
	PUB	1,868	2.08	4,572	0.96	5,161	2.23	1,253	1.08	3,135	1.52	790	1.19	1,958	0.82	208	0.54	34	0.47
	VO	1,089	1.21	5,785	1.21	2,851	1.23	1,331	1.15	2,490	1.21	570	0.86	2,384	1.00	135	0.35	25	0.34
Total		89,666	100.00	476,529	100.00	231,625	100.00	115,655	100.00	205,767	100.00	66,144	100.00	238,318	100.00	38,495	100.00	7,278	100.00
Valid votes		89,666	89.09	476,529	79.05	231,625	85.72	115,655	94.49	205,767	90.44	66,144	94.19	238,318	94.56	38,495	96.38	7,278	96.16
Invalid/blank		10,982	10.91	126,257	20.95	38,582	14.29	6,750	5.51	21,751	9.56	4,079	5.81	13,717	5.44	1,447	3.62	291	3.84
Total votes		100,648	100.00	602,786	100.00	270,207	100.00	122,405	100.00	227,518	100.00	70,223	100.00	252,035	100.00	39,942	100.00	7,569	100.00
Source: Plurinational Electoral Organ | Electoral Atlas

Legislative results

1979 Bolivian parliamentary election

Party or alliance		Chamber of Deputies				National Senate
		Seats	+/–	Of total (%)		Seats	+/–	Of total (%)
	Democratic and Popular Union	38	+38	32.48		8	+8	29.63
	Revolutionary Nationalist Movement	48	+48	41.03		16	+16	59.26
	Nationalist Democratic Action	19	New	16.24		3	New	11.11
	Socialist Party – 1	5	+5	4.27		0	0	0.00
	Popular Alliance for National Integration	5	New	4.27		0	New	0.00
	Túpac Katari Indian Movement	1	+1	0.85		0	0	0.00
	Bolivian Union Party	1	New	0.85		0	New	0.00
	Workers' Vanguard	0	New	0.00		0	New	0.00
Total		117	0			27	0
Source: Plurinational Electoral Organ | Electoral Atlas

References

Works cited

Print publications

Books and encyclopedias

• 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.
• Romero de Campero, Ana María (1996). Ni todos, ni tan santos: Crónicas sobre el poder (in Spanish). La Paz: Casilla #135. OCLC 253121218.

External links

• Official results from the Plurinational Electoral Organ (in Spanish).