Bolivia’s Electoral Body to Hold Departmental Workshops on Reform Proposals

Bolivia’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal plans to hold nine departmental workshops to gather proposals for changes to the country’s electoral system.

The initiative emerged from a meeting between the tribunal’s members and officials from Bolivia’s nine departmental electoral tribunals. The approved resolution calls for dialogue and proposal-gathering with political organizations, civil society, Indigenous nations and peoples, and the public.

The planned reforms cover the Electoral Regime Law, the Electoral Organ Law and the Law on Political Organizations. Electoral authorities say the legislation should be updated for an era in which activities are increasingly digital.

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The OEP and strategic alliances will hold nine departmental workshops to build electoral reforms through dialogue and the collection of proposals from political organizations, civil society organizations, Indigenous nations and peoples, and society as a whole.

The resolution says contributions collected during the national meeting will provide a technical basis for reforms aimed at strengthening political representation, internal democracy within political organizations, electoral administration and justice, voter-register integrity, technology tools and management efficiency.

Carlos Alberto Goytia had urged departmental officials to take a self-critical look at the work of their tribunals and the Supreme Electoral Tribunal. However, the nine-point resolution did not identify any such observations or specify the contributions submitted by the departmental bodies.

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The results and contributions gathered during the National Meeting constitute a technical basis for promoting electoral reforms that strengthen political representation, internal democracy in political organizations, electoral administration and justice, the integrity of the voter register, the incorporation of technological tools and the efficiency of electoral management.