General Information
At Stake in this Election:
- 36 seats in the Bolivian Chamber of Senators (Camara de Senadores)
Government Structure:
- Chief of State: Interim President Jeanine Añez (since 12 November 2019)*
- Head of Government: Interim President Jeanine Añez (since 12 November 2019)
- Assembly: Bolivia has a bicameral Plurinational Legislative Assembly (Asamblea Legislativa Plurinacional) consisting of the Chamber of Senators (Camara de Senadores) with 36 seats and the Chamber of Deputies (Camara de Diputados) with 130 seats.
*The president is both the chief of state and head of government.
Electoral System:
- The President is elected by majority vote to serve a 5-year term. A candidate must receive at least 50% of the vote, or 40% of the vote and 10% more than the second candidate to be elected. Otherwise, a second round will be on December 15th with the top two finishers to determine the winner.
- In the Chamber of Senators (Camara de Senadores) 36 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 5-year terms*.
- In the Chamber of Deputies (Camara de Diputados), 70 members are elected by plurality vote in single-member constituencies to serve 5-year terms, 53 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 5-year terms and 7 members are elected by plurality vote in single-member constituencies to serve 5-year terms.**
* Each of the nine Bolivian states elects four Senators. Allocation is by the D'Hondt method. (Before December 2009, there were three Senators per state, and no party could win more than two of the three seats in each.)
** PR seats are apportioned to each state in proportion to population, and these are allocated to parties in proportion to their respective shares of the Presidential vote in each state. Seven reserved indigenous seats are apportioned to non-contiguous, rural areas in seven of the nine states. Voters who declare themselves indigenous may vote for an indigenous deputy instead of in the regular, single-member district election.
Population and Registered Voters:
Gender Data:
- Female Population: 1,459,274 (June 2020 est.)[4]
- Is Bolivia a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (30 May 1980)[5]
- Has Bolivia ratified CEDAW: Yes (8 Jun 1990)[6]
- Gender Quota: Yes[7]
- Female Candidates in this election: Yes
- Number of Female Legislators: 105 (as of 2020)[8]
- Human Development Index (HDI) Position: 114[9]
- Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: Low[10]
Disability Data:
- Is Bolivia a signatory to CRPD: Yes (13 Aug 2007)[11]
- Has Bolivia ratified CRPD: Yes (16 Nov 2009)[12]
- Population with a disability: 1,620,132[13]
[1] https://www.as-coa.org/articles/explainer-presidential-candidates-bolivias-2020-special-elections
[2] https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gv.html
[3] https://www.idea.int/data-tools/country-view/129/40
[4] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] https://www.idea.int/data-tools/data/gender-quotas/country-view/129/35
[8] https://data.ipu.org/women-ranking?month=6&year=2020
[9] http://hdr.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/BOL
[10] https://www.genderindex.org/wp-content/uploads/files/datasheets/2019/BO.pdf
[11] https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-15&chapter=4&clang=_en
[12] Ibid.
[13] http://www.electionaccess.org/en/resources/countries/BO/all/