Constitution of Bolivia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to navigationJump to search
show
This article may be expanded with text translated from the
corresponding article in Spanish. (December 2009) Click [show] for important
translation instructions.

Politics of Bolivia

show

Constitution

show

Executive

show

Legislative

show

Judiciary

show

Elections

show

Administrative divisions
 show

Foreign relations

 Bolivia portal

 Other countries

 v
 t
 e

The current Constitution of Bolivia (Spanish: Constitución Política del Estado;

literally, the Political Constitution of the State) came into effect on 7 February
2009 when it was promulgated by President Evo Morales,[1][2] after being
approved in a referendum with 90.24% participation. The referendum was held
on 25 January 2009, with the constitution being approved by 61.43% of voters. [3]
It is the 17th constitution in the country's history;[4] previous constitutions were
enacted in 1826, 1831, 1834, 1839, 1843, 1851, 1861, 1868, 1871, 1878, 1880,
1938, 1945, 1947, 1961, and 1967.
The 2009 Constitution defines Bolivia as a unitary plurinational,
and secular (rather than a Catholic, as before) state, formally known as the
Plurinational State of Bolivia. It calls for a mixed economy of state, private, and
communal ownership; restricts private land ownership to a maximum of
5,000 hectares (12,400 acres); and recognizes a variety of autonomies at the
local and departmental level. It elevates the electoral authorities to become a
fourth constitutional power; introduces the possibility of recall elections for all
elected officials; and enlarges the Senate. Members of the enlarged National
Congress will be elected by first past the post voting in the future, in a change
from the previous mixed member proportional system. The judiciary is reformed,
and judges will be elected in the future and no longer appointed by the National
Congress. It declares natural resources to be the exclusive dominion of the
Bolivian people, administered by the state. Sucre will be acknowledged as
Bolivia's capital, but the institutions will remain where they are (executive and
legislative in La Paz, judiciary in Sucre). The electoral authorities will be situated
in Sucre.

Contents

 1Drafting process
 2Text and provisions of the 2009 Constitution
o 2.1Organization
o 2.2State and democracy
o 2.3Electoral system
o 2.4Atacama corridor
o 2.5Coca
 3Transition and implementation
o 3.1Changed institutions
 4Past constitutions
 5See also
 6References
 7External links

Drafting process[edit]
The Bolivian Gas War preceded the drafting process. The Gas War centered on
the controversial decision of the National Revolutionary Movement (MNR) party
to export Bolivian natural gas through Chilean ports which had been taken by
Chile in the Pacific War of the 1870s. The Gas War came to a head in October
2003 with violent protest throughout the country from various social actors,
leaving at least 70 dead. The then President Gonzalo Sánchez de
Lozada ('Goni') resigned and fled to the US. Goni was succeeded by Vice
President Carlos Mesa who was forced to step down amid further widespread
protest in El Alto, La Paz and Cochabamba in June 2005. This led to the
selection of judge Eduardo Rodríguez as head of a caretaker government which
provided setting for new elections in December 2005. A number of new parties
stepped into the political frame.
Evo Morales' MAS party was elected and began implementing its 'October
Agenda', a set of social movement demands stemming from The Gas War. The
first of these tasks was to initiate a Constitutional Assembly to write a new
constitution. The assembly comprised elected representatives from every region
of the country. The Assembly failed to reach common agreement over various
issues, including the rules of operation. Eventually, having failed to reach an
agreement in Sucre - often amid violent protest or else stalemate - the MAS
party were forced to retreat to Oruro to finalise the Constitution. The constitution
was therefore further modified by an Editing Commission before, with much
fanfare, Evo presided over the passage of the new Constitution on 14
December 2007.
Because nationally and internationally this process was not considered
democratic by some, the constitution was not at the time considered legitimate,
though it provided some political stability to Bolivia. [5] Therefore, there was an
ongoing process of renegotiation: this included dialogue in Cochabamba
between the President and opposition Prefects in September 2008; and in
Congress during negotiations for a referendum in October 2008. [6]

Text and provisions of the 2009 Constitution[edit]

Organization[edit]
The text of the constitution is divided in five broad parts:

 Part One: Fundamental Bases of the State, Rights, Obligations, and

Guarantees
 Part Two: Functional Structure and Organization of the State
 Part Three: Territorial Structure and Organization of the State
 Part Four: Economic Structure and Organization of the State
 Part Five: Hierarchy of Norms and Reform of the Constitution
Each part is divided into titles, and these titles into chapters. Some chapters are
themselves divided into sections. Altogether the constitution has 411 articles. [7]
State and democracy[edit]
Bolivia is established by the current constitution as a plural and unitary state:
Article 1
Bolivia is constituted as a Unitary Social State of Plurinational, Community-
Based Law, free, independent, sovereign, democratic, intercultural,
decentralized, and with autonomies. Bolivia is founded in plurality and political,
economic, juridical, cultural, and linguistic pluralism within the integrating
process of the country.

— Political Constitution of the State, First Part, Title I, Chapter One: Model of

State, Nueva Constitución Política del Estado, p. 3.
The Constitution (in Chapter Three of Title I) defines the forms of democracy—
participatory, representative and community-based—and structure of
government to be used in Bolivia. Direct and participatory democracy takes
place through referenda, citizen legislative initiatives, revocation of elected
officials' mandates, assemblies, cabildos and prior consultation. Representative
democracy takes place through the election of representatives through
universal, direct, and secret vote. Communal democracy takes place through
the "election, designation or nomination of authorities and representatives"
among indigenous, originary, or campesino peoples and nations, using their
own norms and procedures. The same chapter establishes a separation of
powers between four branches of government: legislative, executive, judicial,
and electoral.[7]
Bolivia also becomes a "pacifist state" that rejects war, although it reserves a
right to "legitimate defense." The Constitution prohibits the installation of foreign
military bases within the country.[8]
The Constitution is established as the supreme law of the Bolivian state, [9] and
36 indigenous languages as well as Spanish are declared official languages. All
departmental governments must use, as official languages, one indigenous
language in addition to Spanish.[10]
The Constitution assigns the role of national capital to Sucre, not referring to La
Paz in the text. Nonetheless the Palacio Quemado (the Presidential Palace and
seat of Bolivian executive power) is located in La Paz, as are the National
Congress and Plurinational Electoral Organ. La Paz thus continues to be the
seat of government and de facto administrative capital.
Article 6
I. Sucre is the Capital of Bolivia.

— Political Constitution of the State, First Part, Title I, Chapter One: Model of

State, Nueva Constitución Política del Estado, p. 4.

Electoral system[edit]
The electoral authorities, which will become a fourth constitutional power, will be
situated in Sucre.
Following the Constitution's enactment, new elections to all public bodies are to
be held, and all previous terms will not be considered for term limits.
Additionally, the President will be allowed to be re-elected once, thus allowing
Evo Morales two more terms if he decides to pursue this route. Furthermore, if
no candidate gains more than 50% of the vote in the presidential election, there
will be a second round; up to now, the National Congress decided who would
become president in such a case.
Atacama corridor[edit]
See also: Atacama dispute
The 2009 Constitution of Bolivia states that the country has an unrenounciable
right over the territory that gives it access to the Pacific Ocean and its maritime
space. This is understood as Chilean territory that Bolivia ceded in Treaty of
Peace and Friendship of 1904 between Chile and Bolivia after the War of the
Pacific which left Bolivia a landlocked country. The text also pledges to achieve
resolution to the issue "through peaceful means." [11]
The constitution states the following:
Article 267
I. The state of Bolivia declares its indispensable and irreversible right over the
territories that give it access to the Pacific Ocean and its maritime space. II.The
effective solution to the maritime problem is to be carried out by peaceful means
and the exercise of sovereignty over said territory, constitutes permanent
objectives and indispensable ones of the Bolivian State.

— Second Part, Title VIII, Chapter Four: Maritime Restoration, Nueva

Constitución Política del Estado (p. 62)

Coca[edit]
One important change in the new constitution is the introduction of an article
concerning coca. The article states:
Article 384
The State shall protect native and ancestral coca as cultural patrimony, a
renewable natural resource of Bolivia's biodiversity, and as a factor of social
cohesion; in its natural state it is not a narcotic. Its revaluing, production,
commercialization, and industrialization shall be regulated by law.

— Fourth Part, Title II, Chapter Seven: Coca, Nueva Constitución Política del

Estado,(p. 89)

Transition and implementation[edit]

The 2009 Constitution is accompanied by a transitional law. In order for the
various bodies of government created under the Constitution to function a set of
five structural laws were needed, and a deadline of 180 days following the
enactment of the Constitution was set for these laws to be passed. They are:
 1. The Electoral Organs Law
2. The Judicial Organs Law
3. The Framework Law on Autonomies
4. The Electoral Regime Law
5. The Constitutional Court Law
An analysis by Minister of Autonomy Carlos Romero estimates that at least 106
laws must be approved to fully implement the new constitution. As of April 2011,
sixteen such laws had been passed. The head of the MAS-IPSP delegation in
the Chamber of Deputies has pledged to prioritize 40 further "necessary" laws
in 2011 sessions.[12]
Changed institutions[edit]
The 2009 Constitution replaces or renames a wide variety of institutions. This
following table is a summary of such changes.

Fina
Startin
Old Institution l New Institution Changes
g date
date

22
Republic of Bolivia Plurinational State of Bolivia January
2010

Plurinational Legislative
Includes
National Congress Assembly
indigenous
Congreso Nacional Asamblea Legislativa
representatives
Plurinacional

Plurinational Electoral Organ Elevated to a

National Electoral Court
Orgáno Electoral fourth branch
Corte Nacional Electoral
Plurinacional of government

The governing
court of
the Plurination
15
National Electoral Court Supreme Electoral Court al Electoral
August
Corte Nacional Electoral Tribuno Supremo Electoral Organ is named
2010
distinctly from
the body as a
whole.

Supreme Court Supreme Court of Justice 3 National and

Corte Suprema de Justicia Tribuno Supremo de Justicia January departmental
2012 courts are
 chosen through
elections. The
high court is
Plurinational Constitutional
3 renamed and
Court
January constitutionalit
Tribunal Constitucional
2012 y questions are
Plurinacional
now handled
by a separate
court.

Department-level institutions

Have
executive-
legislative
Government division of
Prefecture
Gobierno or Gobernación powers, more
Prefectura
departamental direct election,
and their own
statutes of
autonomy

Highest
executive
official.
Chosen by
popular
Prefect Governor election, rather
Prefecto Gobernador than by
presidential
nomination
(since
December
2005 elections)

Legislative
officials.
Departmental Council (of Departmental legislative
Formerly
councilmen and assembly (of assemblymen
chosen by
councilwomen) and assemblywomen)
municipalities,
Consejo Asamblea legislativa
now directly
departamental (of consejero departamental (of asambleísta
elected by vote
s) s)
or indigenous
elections

Regional institutions