MIR & MBL out

08.31.2006

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Bolivia's National Electoral Court has rescinded the juridic personality (legal status) of several national & regional parties. Including two established pre-2003 parties: MIR & MBL. The decision was made after several of the electoral fronts in the July 2006 constituent assembly election did not meet the electoral threshold. Parties that don't meet a minimum voter threshold, are responsible to pay for their portion of the cost of printing ballots; failure to pay the debt leads to loss of legal status.

MIR (Movimiento de la Izquierda Revolucionaria) had recently celebrated its 35th anniversary as a party. The party was one of the three main "systemic" parties (the others were the MNR & ADN) during the 1980s through 1990s. Though the party accommodated itself to neoliberal policies, the party was officially a member of the Socialist International. It failed to pay a debt of Bs. 333,920.

MBL (Movimiento Bolivia Libre), itself a former splinter from MIR, also lost its legal status as a political party. The party was a self-described "progressive" party w/ Christian-democratic sentiments; it had since 1993 moved closer to the MNR, w/ which it co-goverened 1993-1997, and 2002-2003. It failed to pay a debt of Bs. 404,908.

The other parties that lost their legal status were recent parties; the loss of status for new parties after elections is a regular occurrence. These were: Movimiento AYRA (a university-based leftist front), Tradepa (Transformación Democrática Patriótica), MACA (Movimiento de Acción Ciudadana), MIB (Movimiento de Integración Boliviana), MAR (Movimiento Autónomo Regional), and CDC (Convergencia Democrática Ciudadana).

Interestingly, several of these electoral fronts did manage to elect at least one delegate to the constituent assembly. The only parties from this list that didn't manage to elect at least one delegate were: CDC, MAR, MACA, MIBOL, and Tradepa.

Parties that lose status are allowed to re-register w/ the court as if they were new parties; this means gathering signature & filing out the appropriate paperwork. MIR spokespersons have already vowed that their party will be reborn.

I've noted the changes to the political parties page of my under-construction Bolivian politics wiki.

Posted by Miguel at 10:44 AM