The Liberal Party (
Spanish: ''Partido Liberal''; PL) was a
liberal political party in Bolivia active between 1883 and 1979. It was one of two
major parties, alongside the
Conservative Party, that dominated the
politics of Bolivia from 1884 to 1920. The Liberals constituted the primary
opposition to the Conservatives from 1884 to 1899 and ruled continuously from 1899 to 1920 after taking power in the
Federal War
The Federal War () — also known as the Great War or the 5 Year War — was a civil war in Venezuela between the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party over the monopoly the Conservatives held over government positions and land ownership, an ...
. Liberal rule ended in 1920 when the party was
ousted in a coup d'état. The Liberals remained intermittently influential and electorally competitive until the
Bolivian National Revolution of 1952, and it finally lost its legal party status in 1979, during the
democratic transition
A democratic transition describes a phase in a country's political system as a result of an ongoing change from an authoritarian regime to a Democracy, democratic one. The process is known as democratisation, political changes moving in a democrat ...
.
History
The Liberal Party was formally founded in 1883 by
Eliodoro Camacho. The party espoused freedom of religion, a strict separation between church and state, legal acceptance of civil marriages and divorce, and strict adherence to democratic procedures. When the party took power in 1899, it moved the base of the presidency and the
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
to
La Paz
La Paz, officially Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Aymara language, Aymara: Chuqi Yapu ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With 755,732 residents as of 2024, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities by populati ...
, which became the ''de facto'' capital city. The
Supreme Court
In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
remained in
Sucre
Sucre (; ) is the ''de jure'' capital city of Bolivia, the capital of the Chuquisaca Department and the sixth most populous city in Bolivia. Located in the south-central part of the country, Sucre lies at an elevation of . This relatively high ...
. To this day, Sucre is the ''de jure'' capital of Bolivia while La Paz acts as the ''de facto'' seat of government.
Between 1899 and 1920, all of the
presidents of Bolivia were members of the Liberal Party, supported by the tin-mining oligarchy until the
Republican Party took power in a coup in 1920.
The last Liberal president was
José Luis Tejada Sorzano
José Luis Tejada Sorzano (12 January 1882 – 4 October 1938) was a Bolivian economist, lawyer, and politician who served as the 34th president of Bolivia from 1934 to 1936. A member of the Liberal Party, he served as the 23rd vice president ...
, who served between 1934 and 1936.
By
1940
A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280.
Events
Below, events related to World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
January
*Janu ...
, however, the party had formed a
Concordance with their erstwhile Republican opponents to counter the rising tide of radical or revolutionary parties. The Concordance supported the candidate
Enrique Peñaranda
Enrique Peñaranda del Castillo (15 November 1892 – 22 December 1969) was a Bolivian general who served as the 38th president of Bolivia from 1940 until his overthrow in 1943. He previously served as commander-in-chief of the country's Armed ...
.
In
1947
It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Events
January
* January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country i ...
, the Liberal Party's
Luis Fernando Guachalla narrowly lost to
Enrique Hertzog of the
Republican Socialist Unity Party (PURS).
In the
1951 elections,
Tomás Manuel Elío ran for the Liberal Party but received far fewer votes than the winner.
For the
1966 elections, the Liberal Party was a component of the
Democratic Institutionalist Alliance, with the PURS's Enrique Hertzog as the coalition's presidential candidate and the PL's leader, Eduardo Montes, as his running mate. They polled 11,400 votes (01.13%) and came sixth.
[Elections in the Americas : a data handbook / ed. by Dieter Nohlen, Vol. 2. xford .a. Oxford Univ. Press, 2005. P.150.]
For the
1978 election, the PL fostered relations with the
Nationalist Union of the People (UNP) and its candidate,
Juan Pereda. The party put forward Montes as Pereda's
running mate
A running mate is a person running together with another person on a joint ticket during an election. The term is most often used in reference to the person in the subordinate position (such as the vice presidential candidate running with a pre ...
but was passed over in favor of
Alfredo Franco. As a result, the PL scrambled to form its own
ticket, nominating Montes for president, accompanied by Raúl Monje for vice president. The party failed to meet the filing deadline for ballot access and was consequently barred from competing by the
Electoral Court. It ultimately resigned to endorsing Pereda's candidacy.
When
elections were rerun in 1979, the PL was among several minor fronts not granted legal party status by electoral authorities. On 29 April 1979, the Electoral Court announced that the PL and sixteen other parties had not met the necessary prerequisites to be allowed ballot access, rendering them effectively defunct.
Electoral history
See also
*
History of Bolivia (1809–1920)
References
Footnotes
Works cited
Digital and print publications
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Books and encyclopedias
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1883 establishments in Bolivia
1979 disestablishments in Bolivia
Defunct political parties in Bolivia
Liberal parties in Bolivia
Political parties established in 1883
Political parties disestablished in 1979
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