Plurinational Legislative Assembly

16°29′46″S 68°07′59″W / 16.49611°S 68.13306°W / -16.49611; -68.13306

Plurinational Legislative Assembly

Asamblea Legislativa Plurinacional
Coat of arms or logo
Type
Type
Houses Chamber of Senators,
Chamber of Deputies
History
Founded 1825 unicameral, 1831 bicameral
Leadership
President of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly (ex oficio as Vice President)
Edmand Lara, PDC
since 8 November 2025
Diego Ávila, PDC
since 6 November 2025
Roberto Castro Salazar, PDC
since 6 November 2025
Structure
Seats 166
36 Senators
130 Deputies
Chamber of Senators political groups
Government (23)
  •   PDC (16)[a]
  •   Unity (7)[b]

Supported by (13)

Chamber of Deputies political groups
Government (75)

Supported by (44)

Opposition (11)

Elections
Chamber of Senators voting system
Party-list proportional representation
Chamber of Deputies voting system
Two vote seat linkage compensation mixed electoral system (Mixed-member proportional representation) with DSV
Last Chamber of Senators election
17 August 2025
Last Chamber of Deputies election
17 August 2025
Meeting place
New headquarters of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly
La Paz, Bolivia
Website
https://web.senado.gob.bo/
http://www.diputados.bo

The Plurinational Legislative Assembly (Spanish: Asamblea Legislativa Plurinacional ; ALP), formerly known as the National Congress (Spanish: Congreso Nacional ), is the legislative branch of the national government of Bolivia. It is a bicameral legislature, including a lower chamber, the Chamber of Deputies, and an upper chamber, the Senate. They both meet in La Paz, the seat of government.

The vice president of Bolivia acts ex officio as the president of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly. The legislature has a total 350 members: 36 senators, 130 deputies, 9 supranational representatives, and their corresponding substitutes.

Each of the country's nine departments returns four senators elected by proportional representation (using the D'Hondt method).[1] (From 1985 to 2009, the Senate had 27 seats: three seats per department: two from the party or formula that receives the most votes, with the third senator representing the second-placed party.) Senators are elected from party lists to serve five-year terms, and the minimum age to hold a Senate seat is 35 years.

The Chamber of Deputies comprises 130 seats, elected using a seat linkage based mixed compensatory system (for mixed-member proportional representation): 70 deputies are elected to represent single-member electoral districts, 7 of which are Indigenous or Campesino seats elected by the usos y costumbres of minority groups, 60 are elected from party lists on a departmental basis.[1] Deputies also serve five-year terms, and must be aged at least 25 on the day of the election. Party lists are required to alternate between men and women, and in the single-member districts, men are required to run with a female alternate, and vice versa. At least 50% of the deputies from single-member districts are required to be women.

Both the Chamber of Senators, and the proportional part of the Chamber of Deputies is elected based on the vote for the presidential candidates, while the deputies from the single-member districts are elected separately.[1]

Buildings

edit
Government Palace of Bolivia in downtown La Paz.

The two chambers of Congress meet in the legislative palace located on Plaza Murillo, La Paz's main city-centre square. Plaza Murillo is also flanked by the presidential palace (informally known as the Palacio Quemado the "Burnt Palace" on account of repeated attempts to raze it to the ground in the 19th century) and the cathedral of Nuestra Señora de La Paz. Prior to becoming the seat of the legislature in 1904, the congress building had, at different times, housed a convent and a university.

The Vice-President, in his capacity as President of Congress, has an imposing suite of offices on Calle Mercado in central La Paz. The building, designed by Emilio Villanueva, was erected during the 1920s and was originally intended to serve as the headquarters of Bolivia's central bank (Banco de la Nación Boliviana). Under Jaime Paz Zamora's 19891993 presidency, the building was reassigned to the vice-presidency, but the vice-presidential staff did not relocate entirely until major reconstruction and renovation work, starting in 1997, had been carried out. The Library of Congress and the National Congressional Archive are also located on the premises.

See also

edit

Notes

edit

References

edit
  1. 1 2 3 "Bolivia: Ley del Régimen Electoral, 30 de junio de 2010". Lexivox. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
edit