Bolivian general election, 1979

Bolivia
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General elections were held in Bolivia on 1 July 1979.^[1] As no candidate in the presidential elections received a majority of the vote, the National Congress was required to elect a President. However, the Congress failed to elect a candidate after three ballots, and instead selected Senate leader Wálter Guevara to serve as Interim President for a year on 8 August.^[2] Guevara was later overthrown by a military coup led by Alberto Natusch on 31 October. Fresh elections were held in June 1980.

Although the Democratic and Popular Union received the most votes in the Congressional elections, the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement-Alliance (A–MNR) won the most seats, largely as a result of the electoral system giving more seats to sparsely populated rural areas where the A–MNR was more popular.^[3]

Background

General elections had previously been held in July 1978, the first since 1966, with several military coups taking place during the late 1960s and early 1970s.^[1] Although Juan Pereda of the Nationalist Union of the People won the presidential elections, more votes were cast than there were registered voters.^[4] After examining a number of allegations of fraud and other irregularities, the Electoral Court decided to annul the results on 20 July.^[5] The following day, Pereda was installed as President following a military coup. Pereda himself was overthrown by yet another military coup in November, which saw General David Padilla assume the presidency,^[6] promising to hold fresh elections in July the following year.^[3]

Campaign

A total of 1,378 candidates contested the 144 seats in Congress.^[3] Several alliances were formed for the elections:^[7]

Results

Election result by department:

  Departments where Paz Estenssoro won

  Departments where Siles won

See also

• Bolivian National Congress, 1979–1980

References

Elections and referendums in Bolivia
Presidential elections	1855 1862 1873 1884 1888 1892 1896 1904 1908 1909 1913 1917 1925 (May) 1925 (Dec) 1931 1934 1940 1947 1951 1956 1960 1964 1966 1978 1979 1980 1985 1989 1993 1997 2002 2005 2009 2014
Parliamentary elections	1855 1862 1873 1884 1888 1892 1900 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1921 1923 1925 1927 1928 1931 1933 1934 1938 1940 1942 1944 1947 1949 1951 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1978 1979 1980 1985 1989 1993 1997 2002 2005 2006 2009 2014
Judicial elections	2011
Local elections	1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1999 2004 2010 2011 2012 2013 2015
Referendums	1931 1986 2004 2006 2008 2009 2016