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1951 Bolivian general election

FieldValue
countryBolivia
flag_yearstate
previous_election1947 Bolivian general election
previous_year1947
next_election1956 Bolivian general election
next_year1956
election_date6 May 1951
registered204,649
module{{Infobox election
embedyes
election_namePresidential election
typepresidential
image_size130x130px
image1Paz Estenssoro.jpg
nominee1Víctor Paz Estenssoro
party1Revolutionary Nationalist Movement
popular_vote154,129
percentage142.91%
image2Gabriel Gosálvez.jpg
nominee2Gabriel Gosálvez
party2PURS
popular_vote240,381
percentage232.01%
image3Bernardino Bilbao Rioja (CROPPED).jpg
nominee3Bernardino Bilbao Rioja
party3Bolivian Socialist Falange
popular_vote313,259
percentage310.51%
nominee4Guillermo Gutiérrez Vea Murguía
party4ACB
popular_vote46,654
percentage45.27%
image5Tomás Manuel Elío - 3.jpg
nominee5Tomás Manuel Elío
party5Liberal
popular_vote56,530
percentage55.17%
titlePresident
before_electionMamerto Urriolagoitía
before_partyPURS
after_electionElection results annulled
President Urriolagoitía enacts a self-coup.
Brigadier General Hugo Ballivián becomes de facto president

President Urriolagoitía enacts a self-coup. Brigadier General Hugo Ballivián becomes de facto president

General elections were held in Bolivia on 6 May 1951. Víctor Paz Estenssoro of the opposition Revolutionary Nationalist Movement (MNR) received the most votes in the presidential election, but as he did not obtain an absolute majority, the National Congress was constitutionally obliged to elect a President on 6 August from the three candidates who received the most public votes. However, on 16 May a military junta assumed responsibility for the Government with Brigadier General Hugo Ballivián as president.

The National Congress was ultimately dissolved by Supreme Decree of 7 June 1951, which annulled the results of the elections. Paz Estenssoro went into exile until 1952 when the Bolivian National Revolution enabled him to take office as president.

Electoral system

Until 1956, Bolivia did not have universal suffrage. Rather, the country operated under the "qualified vote" system in which deputies elected in parish and provincial boards then voted in general elections. Under this system, ballots for president and vice president were separate resulting in different vote totals for each.

Campaign

The Republican Socialist Unity Party (PURS) and the Social Democratic Party (PSD) formed the Social Democratic Action alliance to contest the election, with Gabriel Gosalvez of PURS running for president and Roberto Arce of the PSD running for vice-president.

Results

President

Vice-President

References

Bibliography

References

  1. [[Dieter Nohlen]] (2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume II'', p133 {{ISBN. 978-0-19-928358-3
  2. ''Political Handbook of the World 1956'', New York, 1956. p14
  3. Field, Thomas C.. (2025). "The Limits of Superpower: US Developmentalists and the Local Origins of Bolivia’s 1964 Coup". Cambridge University Press.
  4. "Voto calificado y voto universal".
  5. [https://web.archive.org/web/20120806224431/http://www.oep.org.bo/centro_doc/cuadernos_tra/cuaderno_tra2_sistemas.pdf OEP]
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

parliamentary-elections-in-bolivia 1951-elections-in-south-america 1951-in-bolivia presidential-elections-in-bolivia election-and-referendum-articles-with-incomplete-results may-1951-in-south-america annulled-elections
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