Christian Democratic Party (Bolivia)

Contents

The Christian Democratic Party (Spanish: Partido Demócrata Cristiano, PDC) is a political party in Bolivia. Historically a Third Way[1] party, it has now been described as a centre-right[2][3] conservative[4] party that is supportive of capitalism and decentralisation.[5]

History

Founded on 6 February 1954 as the Social Christian Party (Spanish: Partido Social Cristiano, PSC), it assumed its present name at a party congress in November 1964. Its intellectual foundations were study centres of the Church's social doctrine, the Bolivian Catholic Action and "Integral Humanism" (a centre for the study of the philosophy of Jacques Maritain). It remains a conventionally "tercerista" party, calling for a third way between capitalism and socialism – a way that would be more humane and truly democratic than either competing sociopolitical system. It was founded by Remo Di Natale, Benjamín Miguel Harb, Javier Caballero, and Emanuel Andrade.[1]

The Christian Democratic Party took part in the 1958 and 1962 congressional elections, and in 1962 Benjamín Miguel Harb became its first deputy. It boycotted the 1964 and 1966 presidential votes.[6]

In 1967, the party took part in the Government of the president of René Barrientos Ortuño, being given responsibility for the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. This was a major misjudgment by the PDC leadership. When military forces carried out bloody raids against mining camps, the Christian Democratic Party was forced to withdraw in anger and embarrassment, with severe internal divisions resulting. The party's youth organization had been discontented with the third-road philosophy for some time, and the mine camp invasions helped to crystallize their rebellion; they favored revolutionary socialism as a solution to Bolivia's dilemmas. In the late 1960s, the youth wing seceded to form the Revolutionary PDC which later became the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR). Several discontented members of the party, including Jose Luis Roca Garcia, also left to join General Alfredo Ovando Candía's short-lived nationalist revolutionary government in 1969–1970.[1]

Under the dictatorship of President Hugo Banzer Suárez the Christian Democrats fought for human rights, fundamental freedoms and the holding of elections, but its president Benjamín Miguel Harb was exiled in 1974 and its organizing secretary Felix Vargas forced to leave the country shortly afterwards.[7]

The PDC took part in 1978 general elections, running former Defense Minister General René Bernal Escalante, a leader of the right-wing faction which supported the Hugo Banzer Suárez regime.[8] After the 1978 election, René Bernal Escalante split from the PDC and founded the Christian Democratic Union.[8]

For the elections held on 1 July 1979, the party joined the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement-Alliance with four other parties — the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement (MNR), the Authentic Revolutionary Party (PRA), the Marxist Leninist Communist Party (PCML) and the Tupaj Katari Revolutionary Movement (MRTK). The Alliance ran a MNR's leader Víctor Paz Estenssoro as its presidential candidate and a PDC's leader Luis Ossio Sanjines as its vice-presidential candidate.[9] In 1979 the Christian Democratic Party won nine seats in the Chamber of Deputies and three in the Senate.

In 1980 the PDC took part in an electoral coalition Democratic Revolutionary Front-New Alternative backing ex-President Luis Adolfo Siles Salinas, which polled few votes; the leader of the PDC Benjamín Miguel Harb ran as vice-presidential candidate.[9]

Soon after the restoration of democratic government, in November 1982, Christian Democrats took a seat in the Hernán Siles Zuazo Government, but withdrew from the coalition in October 1984.[10]

The PDC took part in 1985 general elections, running Luis Ossio Sanjines as its presidential candidate and Jaime Ponce García as vice-presidential candidate, and won three seats in the Chamber of Deputies.[9] Although winning no legislative seats as an ally of the Nationalist Democratic Action in May 1989, Luis Ossio Sanjines, was elected vice-president of the Republic as a result of its adherence to the Nationalist Democratic Action – Revolutionary Left Movement pact (Patriotic Agreement) in August. The PDC campaigned as a member of the Patriotic Agreement in 1993 elections.[10] The Christian Democratic Party was one of the founding components of Social and Democratic Power (PODEMOS), for which it provided its electoral registration. Following the 2005 election, this alliance led the parliamentary opposition to President Evo Morales.[11][12]

The party joined Creemos for the 2020 Bolivian general election.

For the 2025 Bolivian general election, the PDC nominated senator from Tarija Rodrigo Paz as its presidential candidate.[13] In a major upset, Paz advanced to the second round of voting, where he defeated former President Jorge Quiroga, becoming Bolivia's first President to belong to the PDC.[14][15] The party also won 16 seats in the Senate and 49 seats in the Chamber of Deputies.[16] The electoral results gave the PDC the largest parliamentary bloc, allowing it to form a government.[17]

Election results

Presidential elections

ElectionPresidential nomineeVotes%Votes%Result
First roundSecond round
1978René Bernal Escalante167,1318.63%Lost N
1979Víctor Paz Estenssoro (MNR)527,18435.87%64[18]44.44%Lost N
1980Luis Adolfo Siles Salinas (OID)39,4013.01%Lost N
1985Luis Ossio24,0791.60%Lost N
1989Hugo Banzer (ADN)357,29825.24%Lost N
1993346,86521.05%Lost N
1997484,70522.26%118[18]79.73%Elected Y
2002Did not contest
2005Jorge Quiroga (PODEMOS)821,74528.59%Lost N
2009Did not contest
2014Jorge Quiroga467,3119.04%Lost N
2019Chi Hyun Chung539,0818.78%Annulled N
2020Luis Fernando Camacho (Creemos)862,18614.00%Lost N
2025Rodrigo Paz1,717,53232.06%3,506,45854.89%Elected Y

Chamber of Deputies and Senate elections

ElectionParty leaderVotes%Chamber seats+/-PositionSenate seats+/-PositionStatus
1958Benjamín Miguel Harb2,8880.66%0 / 68New4th0 / 18New4thExtra-parliamentary
1960Did not contest0 / 680—N/a0 / 180—N/aExtra-parliamentary
1962Benjamín Miguel Harb19,8251.90%1 / 7214th0 / 2702ndOpposition
19642280.02%1 / 7304th0 / 2702ndOpposition
1966Boycotted0 / 1021—N/a0 / 270—N/aExtra-parliamentary
1979Luis OssioAs part of MNRA9 / 11794th3 / 2733rdSnap election
1980As part of FDR–NA5 / 13045th0 / 2735thMilitary junta (1980-1982)
Coalition (1982-1984)
Opposition (1984-1985)
198524,0791.60%3 / 13028th0 / 2704thSupport
1989In coalition with ADN0 / 13036th0 / 2705thExtra-parliamentary
1993[19]As part of AP0 / 13009th0 / 2705thExtra-parliamentary
1997[19]In coalition with ADN and NFR0 / 13008th0 / 2706thExtra-parliamentary
2002Did not contest0 / 1300—N/a0 / 270—N/aExtra-parliamentary
2005As part of PODEMOS43 / 130432nd13 / 27132ndOpposition
2009Did not contest0 / 13043—N/a0 / 2713—N/aExtra-parliamentary
2014Jorge Quiroga454,2339.06%10 / 130103rd2 / 3623rdOpposition
2019522,5828.80%9 / 13013rd0 / 3624thAnnulled
2020As part of Creemos16 / 13073rd4 / 3644thOpposition
2025Roberto Castro Peñaranda1,683,89132.15%47 / 130291st16 / 36121stGovernment

References

  1. 1.[1.2][1.3]Political parties of the Americas: Canada, Latin America, and the West Indies. Greenwood Press, 1982. P. 131.
  2. 2."El candidato Rodrigo Paz vence a Jorge Quiroga con el voto de los bolivianos en el exterior" (in Spanish). EFE. 2025-08-19. Retrieved 2025-08-20 – via Yahoo News.
  3. 3."Elecciones en Bolivia: quién es Rodrigo Paz Pereira, sorpresivo ganador de la primera vuelta". PAGINA12 (in Spanish). 2025-08-18. Retrieved 2025-08-20.
  4. 4.Martin, Nik (2025-08-11). "Bolivia: New president Paz vows free market reforms". Deutsche Welle.
  5. 5."Bolivia elects center-right president Rodrigo Paz, ending two decades of socialism". The New Indian Express. 20 October 2025.
  6. 6.Political parties of the world. Longman, 1980. P. 28.
  7. 7.Political parties of the world. Longman, 1988. P. 66.
  8. 8.[8.2]Political handbook of the world 1981. New York, 1981. P. 70.
  9. 9.[9.2][9.3]Elections in the Americas : a data handbook / ed. by Dieter Nohlen, Vol. 2. [Oxford] [u.a.]: Oxford Univ. Press, 2005. P.151.
  10. 10.[10.2]Political handbook of the world 2005-2006. New York, 2006. P. 126.
  11. 11.Political handbook of the world 2008. New York, 2008. P. 138.
  12. 12.Luizaga, Dennis (2013-12-10). "Cinco fuerzas de la democracia pactada buscan reflotar en 2014". La Razón. La Paz, Bolivia. Archived from the original on 2013-12-13. Retrieved 2013-12-10.
  13. 13."Rodrigo Paz es el candidato a la presidencia por el PDC". Agencia de Noticias Fides (in Spanish). 2025-08-18. Retrieved 2025-08-18.
  14. 14."Three Things to Know About Bolivia's 2025 First-Round Election Results". AS/COA. 19 August 2025.
  15. 15.Elliott, Lucinda; Machicao, Monica (2025-10-19). "Centrist Rodrigo Paz wins Bolivian presidency, ending nearly 20 years of leftist rule". Reuters.
  16. 16."PDC y Libre liderarán el Parlamento en Bolivia y el MAS quedará solo con dos diputados". Swissinfo (in Spanish). 26 August 2025.
  17. 17."Bolivia's Paz promises 'capitalism for all' as he takes office". France 24. 20 October 2025.
  18. 18.[18.2]After no candidate won more than 50% of the vote in the general election, the National Congress was required to elect the president in an indirect second round.
  19. 19.[19.2]The amount of seats won by PDC among those won by the coalition is uncertain.