Bolivian municipal electoral map (pt.2)

03.23.2005

There probably won't be much Bolivian political news for a few days. Because of the Easter holiday. Although, of course, newspapers note that today is the infamous Día del Mar. Whatever.

But I thought I'd at least post some links to some more electoral maps showing strength of political parties & "civic groups" in the country's different municipalities following the December election. Maps of the three most populous departments below (click to see larger). These maps are more detailed, and also include population information.

La Paz

The most important things to note about La Paz are the municipalities of La Paz (the city) & El Alto. They're hard to spot on the map (click for larger version), but the city of La Paz was won by MSM (green). This is the party of the popular mayor, Juan del Granado (or "Juan Sin Miedo"). MSM (Movimiento Sin Miedo) is a splinter of MBL, so part of the neo-progressive-left, a pragmatic left party popular among the city's middle class & intelligentzia. Despite winning this large city, MSM has little presence nationwide, though its voters often tend to support (nationally) some combination of MBL, MNR, or even ADN, especially the "pitufo" ("smurf") faction headed by Tuto Quiroga (as opposed to the old guard "dinosauros").

The city of El Alto, which is about as big as La Paz, is mostly a mix of indigenous & cholo/a working class (& some new gremialista entrepreneurial elites). It went for PP, re-electing the popular José Luis Peredes ("Pepelucho"), who was first elected on the MIR ticket. PP, like MSM, has little presence beyond La Paz (or even beyond El Alto), and represents the ex-MIR constituency.

In the La Paz countryside, there's a strong MAS dominance in about half the municipalities, w/ the rest disputed between MIP (mostly around Lake Titicaca), MSM, UN, and several "citizens' groups". Interestingly, the lowland municipalities are ADN strongholds.

Cochabamba

This is MAS country, through & through. The countryside is almost entirely dominated by the cocalero party, though the city itself isn't. There, "citizens' groups" won the municipal government, though most of those candidates were (ex-)NFR members. I think it's safe to say that the city is still gripped by the NFR machine, and the countryside is MAS-dominated. Barrio Flores can give better insight on Cochabamba city politics.

Ignore the geography, and look at the numbers: the city makes up about 50% of the total inhabitants. So although this is a sea of blue (MAS), it's close to a 50/50 toss up across the department.

Santa Cruz

MNR does well across many municipalities as do MIR & ADN. The eastern "media luna" departments, of course, are where the "systemic parties" still do relatively well. The city is controlled by "citizens' groups", but (like in Cochabamba) most of the elected "independent" candidates (including the new mayor, Percy Fernández) came from MNR (UCS didn't do so well).

MAS makes some significant inroads, but in rural municipalities w/ small populations. Othersise, it's a mix of civic groups, indigenous groups, and larger political parties, w/o a clear hegemonic structure. Interestingly, Santa Cruz is the most fragmented (politically) of the "media luna" departments. This might be due to its larger population (and, thus, a more diverse population), or the greater number of immigrants from the highlands, or some mix of the two.

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RELATED POST: Bolivian municipal electoral map

Posted by Miguel at 01:24 PM

Comments

What's neo-progressive left?

Posted by: Stephanie at March 24, 2005 07:30 AM

I sort of made up that expression, not sure if it exists. But I meant a non-Marxist left (or at least not an orthodox Marxist left), something more like a social-democrat movement. Those parties are generally in favor of democracy, but want more of it; aren't entirely opposed to neoliberalism, but want to correct for income inequality; don't demand strong state control over the economy, but argue that the government can/should provide more basic services to citizens (a welfare state model).

I used the expression to distinguish MBL & MSM (for example) from orthodox Marxist-Trotskyite parties like POR (Revolutionary Workers' Party), or other more "orthodox" socialist parties like PS-1 (Socialist Party 1). Basically, "neo-progressive left" is what the US/Europe would call a democratic left, as opposed to a socialist-communist left. At least, that's what I meant.

Posted by: Miguel [TypeKey Profile Page] at March 24, 2005 09:05 AM

Got it. Thanks.

Posted by: Stephanie at March 26, 2005 12:16 PM