The political, social and institutional crisis in Bolivia following the election held in October 2019 led to a highly conflictive and polarised political and social situation.

The integrity of the results of that election was questioned by the international expert missions from the Organization of American States (OAS) and the European Union, as well as the OAS Electoral Audit. Their reports concluded that there were widespread irregularities in the ballot scrutiny and vote counting process, which seriously infringed the principles of legality, transparency and impartiality in that election.

This made it necessary to hold a new general election in May 2020, while the sub-national elections are expected to be postponed until November 2020. The president and members of the national parliament will be elected in the general election, while the election of executive and legislative authorities in the country’s departments and municipalities will take place in the sub-national elections.

The Transition Government has requested international assistance to help to strengthen both election processes.

In this context, the OEP faces the challenge of taking forward two elections in the same year, even though its institutional status and public confidence in it is still weak.

Final beneficiaries:

People of voting age (18 and over) and organised civil society, with an emphasis on indigenous people and women, seeking to ensure parity and alternation for political equality in women’s representation in the powers of state.

Direct beneficiaries:

a)    the OEP in its stewardship role overseeing the election process;

b) civil society organisations (FPP and FJ) and their network of partners, including the media.

1:    The OEP has a stronger capacity to manage election processes and promote representative, intercultural democracy with parity

2.    Civil society contributes to the transparent election process through citizen accompaniment of the elections and by verifying the quality of the information disseminated in digital and conventional media.

Expected results:  

1.    The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (Tribunal Supremo Electoral - TSE) strengthens its capacity to manage the electoral cycle in terms of election processes, legislative development and strategic communications.

2.    The OEP’s Intercultural Democracy Strengthening Service (Servicio Intercultural de Fortalecimiento Democrático - SIFDE) has stronger capacities to promote intercultural democracy and parity.

3.    The OEP strengthens its mechanisms to ensure gender parity and alternation in the election process.

4.    Reports disseminated to citizens and to the TSE and Departmental Electoral Tribunals (Tribunales Electorales Departamentales - TED).

5.    Departmental team trained to follow up on and monitor OEP activities.

6.    E-bulletins disseminated to citizens and the OEP alerting them to fake news.

Results from previous phases:  

In the 2019 election, support was provided to the Journalism Foundation (Fundación para el Periodismo - FPP) and the Jubilee Foundation (Fundación Jubileo – FJ).

The main results were: a) citizen observation of the election process and the demand for it´s transparency, b) the high level of citizen misinformation was made visible and the use of tools designed to enable the media and the public to identify fake news was consolidated.

Phase 1 23.03.2020 - 30.11.2021   (Completed)