1 the Rise of Evo Morales Through an Electoral Lens: an Introduction 1
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NOTES 1 The Rise of Evo Morales through an Electoral Lens: An Introduction 1. Venezuela 1993 (Carlos Andrés Perez), 2002 (Hugo Chávez), Ecuador 1997 (Abdalá Bucaram), 2000 (Jamil Mahuad), 2004 (Lucio Gutiérrez), Bolivia 2003 (Sánchez de Lozada), 2005 (Carlos Mesa). 2. This claim is relevant to the Bolivian case since a group of scholars, following Gamarra (1997a), have pointed to the hybrid nature of its presidential system, contained in Article 90 of the Constitution, as the major determinant of its relative success. 3. Comparativists have consistently affirmed that the primary role of leg- islatures has been either “neglect and acquiescence or obstructionism” (Morgenstern and Nacif 2002: 7). Moreover, according to the latest Latinobarómetro (2007), the general population in Latin America regards legislatures as one of the most ineffective and one of the least trusted institutions. 4. In light of Article 90 of the Political Constitution of the State, which grants authority to Congress to elect the president in case no candidate receives a majority, Gamarra (1997a; 1997b) called the system “hybrid presidentialism.” Shugart and Carey (1992) followed Gamarra’s concep- tualization while Jones (1995) identified it as a “majority congressional system.” Mayorga (1999) called it “presidencialismo parlamentarizado” (parliamentarized presidentialism). Regardless of the variations in the labels assigned to the Bolivian political system, these scholars agree that it exhibits features of both presidential and parliamentary systems. 5. The double quotient formula was calculated in the following manner: the first quotient, the participation quotient, would be obtained by dividing the total valid votes in a department by the number of seats to be distributed. Then, the votes of all parties that participated in the dis- tribution of seats were added, and this total was divided by the number of seats to be distributed in a department. With this quotient, seats were distributed only amongst the parties that qualified for the distribution. 210 NOTES 6. In a closed-list system, the political party leaders decide on the list of candidates before the election, and the voter, rather than voting for a particular candidate, just exercises his or her vote for the party. The main criticism associated with this system is that it tends to concentrate power in the hands of party leaders and not its members who may be directly linked to the constituencies. 7. Article 134. 8. General Juan Pereda Asbun (July–November 1978); General David Padilla Arancibia (November 1978–August 1979). 9. Article 161. 10. Article 162. 11. In 1985, municipal elections were also held for the first time since the 1952 Revolution. These municipal elections took place jointly with the general elections, according to the Organic Law of Municipalities enacted by Hernan Siles Zuazo on February 13, 1952. Elections for mayors and municipal councils were institutionalized then. Two years later, in December 6, 1987, with the Law of 1980 and the amendments of May 20, 1986, new municipal elections were held, but now indepen- dent of the presidential electoral process. This is still the case for Bolivia. 12. In June 1988, after the TV and radio owner Carlos Palenque allowed one of the most wanted narcotraffickers to speak to the nation through his radio network, Paz Estenssoro forced a congressional session to close down Palenque’s radio and TV network (Paz Ballivián and Cevallos 2001: 183). The MNR became Palenque’s greatest enemy for many years until UCS’ Max Fernández, CONDEPA’s nemesis, entered the political game. 13. Romero Ballivián, Salvador. Interview by author. November 2004. La Paz, Bolivia. 14. Regarding this, Article 163 of the current Electoral Code states: “The results of the ballot, i.e., the counting of vote by vote, and the counting at the suffrage table, or addition of results, are exclusively done by the electoral jury [at the voting table] when they are elaborating and signing the final electoral record, by this no electoral organism can repeat or review the act.” 15. In Bolivia, under the D’Hondt formula, the cumulative votes obtained by each party, front, or alliance are divided by natural divisor series (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, etc.) in a correlative, continuous and obliged manner accord- ing to what is needed in each department. 16. With the Saint-Laguë formula, once all votes are counted, quotients are calculated for each party. The quotients are calculated by dividing the total number of votes that the party received by the number of seats the party is allocated starting with 0. The list with the highest quotient gets the next seat allocated, and their quotient is recalculated with their new seat total. The process is repeated until all seats have been allocated. NOTES 211 17. Evo Morales webpage (http://www.evomorales.net/). 18. Article 4, Law for the Electoral Reform: Application of Article 60 of the Political Constitution of the State. 19. That code suffered its first modification on September 7, 1999, to clar- ify some articles for the next municipal elections. Later, other changes were approved through Law 2232 on July 25, 2001; Law 2282 on December 4, 2001; and Law 2346 on April 30, 2002, among others. 2 Bolivia’s Founding Pacts: The Pact for Democracy and the Patriotic Accord through an Electoral Lens 1. Carey, John. “Interview with Guillermo Bedegral,” MNR deputy. La Paz, Bolivia, May 2001. 2. Leaders such as Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, Gustavo Fernández Saavedra, Carlos Börth, Guillermo Bedegral, Hugo Carvajal Donoso, Ricardo Paz Ballivián, among others. 3. Siles Zuazo shifted ministers more times than any other democratically elected president in Bolivia, i.e., about 143 times. 4. Presencia, 1/1/1989. 5. El Diario, 11/27/1984. 6. Fernández Saavedra, Gustavo. Interview by author. November 2004. La Paz, Bolivia. 7. This term was coined by Siles Zuazo to refer to political parties composed of a small group of people, friends, and families that could actually fit into a taxi cab. The normative framework for the registration of political par- ties before 1985 was rather flexible, the CNE recognized parties by a nominal declaration. In other words, by appearing in the CNE and declaring their existence and their interest in participating in the election, the CNE granted them juridical recognition to participate. Currently there are more requirements for parties to receive recognition: parties are recognized if their membership is equal to 2 percent or more of the total valid votes in the immediately preceding presidential elections (Political Parties Code, Art. 6), or if they can secure a minimum amount of citi- zens’ signatures in case they have never run in an election. 8. Ferrufino, Alfonso. Interview by author. November 2004. La Paz, Bolivia. 9. Presencia, 7/16/1989. 10. Börth, Carlos. Interview by author. November 2004. La Paz, Bolivia. 11. Fernández Saavedra, Gustavo. Interview by author. November 2004. La Paz, Bolivia. 12. For an analysis of the economic crisis faced by the UDP, see Machicado 1995: 69–99. 13. Börth, Carlos. Interview by author. November 2004. La Paz, Bolivia. 212 NOTES 14. An MNR National Convention was called on March 29, 1985 with the purpose of electing a new party candidate for the July 14, 1985 elections. 15. Soon after the launching of the NPE, Guillermo Bedegral participated and won the Central Bank 1986 Annual Contest on Economic Essays with an essay entitled “New Economic Policy,” where he explained the reasons for the policy, its philosophy and ideology. 16. Presencia, 9/8/1989. 17. Presencia, 9/15/1988. 18. For an analysis of the role of Congress in this period, see Gamarra 1987. 19. Presencia, 8/28/1986. The march started in Oruro and was supposed to arrive to La Paz. Through the state of siege, the military was instructed to stop the mobilization and was able to dissolve it before reaching La Paz. 20. On the state of siege and deportation of union leaders, see Morales, Juan A. 1991. “Democracia y Política Económica en Bolivia.” In Síntesis, vol. 14, May–August 1991. 21. The existing constitutional disposition then did not force the censured minister to present his resignation. Nowadays, a censured minister must present his resignation and the president has the last word on whether to accept it or deny it. 22. Sánchez de Lozada, Gonzalo. Interview by author. November 2004. Washington, DC. 23. Presencia, 10/25/1988. 24. Presencia, 10/28/1988. 25. Presencia, 1988. 26. Presencia, 8/5/1988. 27. Presencia, 8/14/1988. 28. Presencia, 8/16/1988. 29. Presencia, 10/20/1988. 30. Paz Ballivián, Ricardo. Interview by author. November 2004. La Paz, Bolivia. 31. For a thorough assessment of this aspect of Bolivian politics, see Gamarra, Eduardo A. and James M. Malloy. 1995. “The Patrimonial Dynamics of Party Politics in Bolivia.” In Scott Mainwaring and Timothy Scully. 1995. Eds. Building Democratic Institutions: Party Systems in Latin America. Stanford: Stanford University Press. 32. Presencia, 8/10/1988. 33. Presencia, 8/11/1988. 34. Presencia, 9/21/1988. 35. Grindle (2000) documents that between 1985 and 1986, public sector employment dropped by 24,600 people; by 1987, a further 8,550 people had been dismissed, and by 1988, public sector employment had dropped by 17 percent. 36. Presencia, AQUI, 7/9/1988; 2. NOTES 213 37. Última Hora, 1/26/1989. 38. Agencia de Noticias FIDES, 5/24/1988. 39. Presencia, 8/15/1988; Agencia de Noticias FIDES, 5/24/1988. 40. Agencia de Noticias FIDES, 7/5/1988. 41. Agencia de Noticias FIDES, 7/5/1988. 42. Presencia, 9/5/1988. 43. Agencia de Noticias FIDES, 5/27/1988. 44. Presencia, 1/28/1989. 45. Presencia, 1/26/1989. 46. Political Declaration of the MNR. La Paz, February 9, 1989 (Presencia). 47.