The first Bolivian judicial election was held on 16 October 2011. The national vote was held to elect magistrates to serve on the

Supreme Court of Justice A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

, the

Plurinational Constitutional Court The Plurinational Constitutional Tribunal ( es, Tribunal Constitucional Plurinacional) is a national court in Bolivia charged with adjudicating the constitutionality of laws, government power, and treaties in accordance with the country's 2009 Con ...

, the and members of the . It was originally scheduled to be held on 5 December 2010, but officials of the National Electoral Court and of the MAS majority in the

Plurinational Legislative Assembly The Plurinational Legislative Assembly ( es, Asamblea Legislativa Plurinacional) is the national legislature of Bolivia, placed in La Paz, the country's seat of government. The assembly is bicameral, consisting of a lower house (the Chambe ...

delayed it. The vote will be the first time that a Latin American country directly elects its highest judicial officials.

Background

The governing MAS party said the vote would make judges more accountable ad improve the efficacy of the judicial process. However, the opposition parties urged voters to either abstain or leave the ballots blank on the grounds that the election could "erode the independence of the judiciary" and strengthen President

Evo Morales Juan Evo Morales Ayma (; born 26 October 1959) is a Bolivian politician, trade union organizer, and former cocalero activist who served as the 65th president of Bolivia from 2006 to 2019. Widely regarded as the country's first president to c ...

as 114 of the candidates were chosen by a Congress dominated by MAS. Previously judges had been directly elected by the Congress.

Candidates

Proposed Supreme Court magistrates must be approved as qualified by a two-thirds vote of the

. Candidates are forbidden from campaigning and from affiliating with political parties.

Election

Over 5,000,000 people registered to vote. ''

Ipsos Apoyo Ipsos Group S.A. () (an acronym of ) is a multinational market research and consulting firm with headquarters in Paris, France. The company was founded in 1975 by Didier Truchot, Chairman of the company, and has been publicly traded on the P ...

'' said that with 76.2% of votes counted, between 46% to 48% of votes cast were invalid, while valid votes accounted for about 38%, with the remaining ballots left blank. Absenteeism was roughly 20%. It was read as a setback for Morales, particularly in light of the

2011 Bolivian protests The 2011 Bolivian protests were a series of demonstrations by indigenous peoples who opposed the construction of the Villa Tunari – San Ignacio de Moxos Highway through the Isiboro Sécure National Park and Indigenous Territory, the ancestral ...

Plurinational Constitutional Court

The elected members of the

are (in order of total votes received): Gualberto Cusi, Efren Choque, Ligia Velásquez, Mirta Camacho, Ruddy José Flores, Neldy Andrade, Soraida Chávez. The elected alternate members are: Macario Lahor Cortez, Milton Mendoza, Juan Valencia, Blanca Alarcón, Carmen Sandoval, Edith Oroz Carrasco, and Zenón Bacarreza.

Supreme Court of Justice

The

is made up of nine members and nine alternates, representing the nine

departments of Bolivia Bolivia is a unitary state consisting of nine departments ( es, departamentos). Departments are the primary subdivisions of Bolivia, and possess certain rights under the Constitution of Bolivia. Each department is represented in the Plurinational ...

. The elected members are: Maritza Suntura (La Paz), Jorge Isaac Von Borries Méndez (Santa Cruz), Rómulo Calle Mamani (Oruro), Pastor Segundo Mamani Villca (Potosí), Antonio Guido Campero Segovia (Tarija), Gonzalo Miguel Hurtado Zamorano (Beni); Fidel Marcos Tordoya Rivas (Cochabamba), Rita Susana Nava Durán (Chuquisaca), and Norka Natalia Mercado Guzmán (Pando). The elected alternates are: William Alave (La Paz), María Arminda Ríos García (Santa Cruz), Ana Adela Quispe Cuba (Oruro), Elisa Sánchez Mamani (Potosí), Carmen Núñez Villegas (Tarija), Silvana Rojas Panoso (Beni); María Lourdes Bustamante (Cochabamba), Javier Medardo Serrano Llanos (Chuquisaca), and Delfín Humberto Betancour Chinchilla (Pando).

Agro-Environmental Court

The elected members of the are (in order of total votes received): Bernardo Huarachi, Deysi Villagómez, Gabriela Armijo Paz, Javier Peñafiel, Juan Ricardo Soto, Lucio Fuentes, and Yola Paucara. The elected alternate members are: Isabel Ortuño, Lidia Chipana, Mario Pacosillo, Katia López, Javier Aramayo, Miriam Pacheco, and Rommy Colque.

Judiciary Council

The elected members of the are (in order of total votes received): Cristina Mamani, Freddy Sanabria, Wilma Mamani, Roger Triveño, and Ernesto Araníbar.

References

{{Bolivian elections Elections in Bolivia 2011 elections in South America

General A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

Judicial elections