Constitution of Bolivia

Bolivia

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Bolivia

Constitution (history) President Evo Morales Vice President Álvaro García Linera National Congress Senate Chamber of Deputies Political parties Elections (Electoral Organ) President 2005 Congress 2005 Autonomy referendums, 2008 Vote of confidence 2008 Referendum 2009 General election 2009 Regional 2010 Subdivisions Departments Provinces Municipalities Cantons Human rights Protests and unrest Bolivian gas conflict 2005 Protests 2008 unrest Foreign relations Foreign aid

Other countries · Atlas Politics portal view · talk · edit

The current Constitution of Bolivia (Spanish: Constitución Política del Estado; literally, the Political Constitution of the State) is the 17th constitution in the country's history;^[1] previous constitutions were enacted in 1826, 1831, 1834, 1839, 1843, 1851, 1861, 1868, 1871, 1878, 1880, 1938, 1945, 1947, 1961 and 1967. It came into effect on February 7, 2009, when it was promulgated by President Evo Morales^[2][3] after being approved in a referendum with 90.24% participation. The referendum was held on January 25, 2009, and the constitution was approved by 61.43% of voters.^[4]

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); 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,^{[dubious – discuss]} 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.

Predecessor constitutions

Main article: Constitutional history of Bolivia

Bolivia's sixteen previous constitutions were enacted in 1826, 1831, 1834, 1839, 1843, 1851, 1861, 1868, 1871, 1878, 1880, 1938, 1945, 1947, 1961 and 1967.^[1]

Drafting process

Main article: Bolivian Constituent Assembly of 2006–2007

The Political Constitution of the State was drafted by the Constituent Assembly, an elected body that met in Sucre and Oruro from 6 August 2006 to 9 December 2007. The constitution was further modified by an Editing Commission before being present to Congress on 14 December 2007; by the Cochabamba Dialogue between the President and opposition Prefects in September 2008; and in Congress during negotiations for a referendum in October 2008.^[5]

Text and provisions of the 2009 Constitution

Organization

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.^[6]

State and democracy

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 official's 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: legistlative, executive, judicial, and electoral.^[6]

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.^[7]

The Constitution is established as the supreme law of the Bolivian state,^[8] 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.

The Constitution assigns the role of national capital to Sucre, not referring to La Paz in the text. Nonetheless, given the Palacio Quemado (the Presidential Palace and seat of Bolivian executive power) is located in La Paz, the later continues to be the seat of government and administrative capital de facto, while Sucre becomes the official 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

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

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."^[9]

The constitution states the following:

Artículo 268
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.

—Segunda Parte, Título VIII, Capítulo Cuarto: Reivindicación Marítima, Nueva Constitución Política del Estado (p. 62)

Coca

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

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 Tribunal 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^[update], 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.^[10]

Changed institutions

The 2009 Constitution replaces or renames a wide variety of institutions. This following table is a summary of such changes.

Old Institution	Final date	New Institution	Starting date	Changes
Republic of Bolivia		Plurinational State of Bolivia	22 January 2010
National Congress Congreso Nacional		Plurinational Legislative Assembly Asamblea Legislativa Plurinacional		Includes indigenous representatives
National Electoral Court Corte Nacional Electoral		Plurinational Electoral Organ Orgáno Electoral Plurinacional		Elevated to a fourth branch of government
National Electoral Court Corte Nacional Electoral		Supreme Electoral Tribunal of Bolivia Tribuno Supremo Electoral	15 August 2010	The governing court of the Plurinational Electoral Organ is named distinctly from the body as a whole.
Department-level institutions
Prefecture Prefectura		Government Gobierno or Gobernación departamental		Have executive-legislative division of powers, more direct election, and their own statutes of autonomy
Prefect Prefecto		Governor Gobernador		Highest executive official. Chosen by popular election, rather than by presidential nomination (since December 2005 elections)
Departmental Council (of councilmen and councilwomen) Consejo departamental (of consejeros)		Departmental legislative assembly (of assemblymen and assemblywomen) Asamblea legislativa departamental (of asambleístas)		Legislative officials. Formerly chosen by municipalities, now directly elected by vote or indigenous elections
Regional institutions
Native Community Land Tierra Comunitaria de Origen		Indigenous Originary Campesino Territory Territorio Indígena Originaria Campesino		Made into a part of a multi-level system of autonomies

Past constitutions

Main article: Constitutional history of Bolivia

Bolivia has had seventeen constitutions, including the present one, since its foundation in 1825.

In force start	In force end	Name	Name of State	Drafted and adopted by	Amended
1938	1945	Bolivian Constitution of 1938	Republic of Bolivia	National Convention of 1938, meeting 23 May 1938-30 October 1938.
1945	1947	Bolivian Constitution of 1945	Republic of Bolivia	National Convention of 1945, meeting 4 July 1945-3 August 1945.
1947	?	Bolivian Constitution of 1947	Republic of Bolivia	No Constituent Assembly was convened.
1961	2 February 1967	Bolivian Constitution of 1961	Republic of Bolivia	No Constituent Assembly was convened.
2 February 1967	7 February 2009	Bolivian Constitution of 1967	Republic of Bolivia	Constituent Assembly of 1967	Reformed in 1994, 1995, 2002, 2004, and 2005
Constitutional rule was suspended from 1969 to 1982.
7 February 2009		Bolivian Constitution of 2009	Plurinational State of Bolivia	Bolivian Constituent Assembly of 2006-2007; adopted by referendum 25 January 2009.

See also

• Bolivian constitutional referendum, 2009
• Constitution
• Constitutional law
• Constitutional economics
• Constitutionalism

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Yahoo! News (2009-02-08). "Características de la nueva Constitución boliviana". http://ar.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/090207/internacional/internacional_bolivia_constitucion. Retrieved 12 de febrero de 2009. 
2. ^ El Mercurio (2009-02-08). "Evo Morales promulga la nueva Constitución y proclama el "socialismo comunitario"". http://diario.elmercurio.cl/2009/02/08/internacional/_portada/noticias/7e1c1ab4-54f7-4b96-93fc-d8880f23031d.htm. Retrieved 2009-02-12. ^{[dead link]}
3. ^ BBC World (2009-02-07). "Bolivia promulga nueva Constitución". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/latin_america/newsid_7877000/7877041.stm. Retrieved 2009-02-12. 
4. ^ Corte Nacional Electoral. "Referéndum Nacional Constituyente 2009". http://www.cne.org.bo/ResultadosRNC2009/. Retrieved 2009-02-09. 
5. ^ Prada Alcoreza, Raúl (2010). "Raúl Prada: A la interior de la Asamblea Constituyente". In Maristella Svampa, Pablo Stefanoni, Bruno Fornillo (eds.). Balance y perspectivas: Intelectuales en el primer gobierno de Evo Morales. La Paz: Le Monde Diplomatique, edicion boliviana. 
6. ^ ^{a b} "Índice" (PDF). Nueva Constitución Política del Estado. http://www.presidencia.gob.bo/download/constitucion.pdf. Retrieved 12-2-2009. 
7. ^ "Artículo 10: I. Bolivia es un Estado pacifista, que promueve la cultura de la paz y el derecho a la paz [...] II. Bolivia rechaza toda guerra de agresión como instrumento de solución [...] y se reserva el derecho a la legítima defensa en caso de agresión [...] III. Se prohíbe la instalación de bases militares extranjeras en territorio boliviano." "Primera Parte, Título I, Capítulo Segundo" (PDF). Nueva Constitución Política del Estado. pp. 3–4. http://www.presidencia.gob.bo/download/constitucion.pdf. Retrieved 12-2-2009. 
8. ^ Artículo 410: La Constitución es la norma suprema del ordenamiento jurídico boliviano y goza de primacía frente a cualquier otra disposición normativa. "Quinta, Título Únic" (PDF). Nueva Constitución Política del Estado. p. 95. http://www.presidencia.gob.bo/download/constitucion.pdf. Retrieved 12-2-2009. 
9. ^ CAPÍTULO CUARTO, REIVINDICACIÓN MARÍTIMA. Artículo 267. I. El Estado boliviano declara su derecho irrenunciable e imprescriptible sobre el territorio que le dé acceso al océano Pacífico y su espacio marítimo. II. La solución efectiva al diferendo marítimo a través de medios pacíficos y el ejercicio pleno de la soberanía sobre dicho territorio constituyen objetivos permanentes e irrenunciables del Estado boliviano.Constitution of Bolivia
10. ^ "DE 103 LEYES APROBADAS, 16 IMPLEMENTAN LA CPE · la-razon.com". La Razón: pp. A5. 2011-04-23. http://www.la-razon.com/version.php?ArticleId=129174&EditionId=2507. Retrieved 2011-04-28. 

External links

• Text of the 2009 Constitution (PDF)
• Miradas. Nuevo Texto Constitucional (A Closer Look: Bolivia's New Constitution) IDEA, Vice Presidency of Bolivia, Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, 2010. ISBN 978-91-85724-84-0 (Spanish)