Event Summary
As Bolivia prepares for its national elections on 17 August 2025, the current electoral process reveals structural and emerging threats that seriously compromise the enabling environment for democratic participation and the exercise of fundamental rights.
The decisions of departmental constitutional chambers have repeatedly interfered with the functions of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), weakening its technical and constitutional authority, as exemplified by rulings on the Third System Movement (MTS) and the disqualification of candidates. This has been described by TSE officials as “sabotage” of the electoral process that seeks to subordinate the electoral body’s decisions to judicial instances. At the same time, the Electoral Body faces a growing siege by political and social actors, including bomb threats, attacks and personal harassment of its members, which has led the TSE to request precautionary measures before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The attacks against the TSE create an environment of intimidation that puts at risk not only the integrity of its members, but also the autonomous and technical functioning of the electoral body. This type of political violence discourages citizen participation, particularly among historically excluded sectors such as women, indigenous peoples and youth, who may see their risk of reprisals for getting involved in public spaces or in defence of their rights worsened.
Added to this situation is a profound political and economic crisis, marked by the effective absence of the state in controlling violent blockades and confrontations, violating rights such as access to freedom of movement or access to health care, through attacks on ambulances and medical personnel, and putting constitutional stability at risk.
One of the most violent episodes to date has been the clashes on 10 June 2025 between pro-Morales blockaders and residents of the municipality of Llallagua, in the department of Potosí, which left dozens injured, looting and general chaos without a preventive police presence. On 11 June 2025, after a police contingent was sent to the scene, new clashes broke out, leaving three policemen and a 17-year-old boy dead, some of them with signs of torture. A central actor in this dynamic are the followers of former president Evo Morales, who, through blockades and violence, are seeking the resignation of current president Luis Arce, the qualification of their leader as a candidate in the next elections, and a solution to the economic crisis. This escalation marks a critical point in the current electoral process, highlighting not only the use of violence as a mechanism of political pressure, but also the ineffectiveness of the state to act promptly to protect the population, the authorities and democratic institutions.
In the medium and long term, this situation threatens to consolidate a hostile environment for the exercise of political and civil rights. Uncertainty over the validity of the TSE’s decisions may discourage electoral participation, generate citizen distrust in democratic processes and open the door to further post-electoral disputes, many of them potentially violent. The current developments are part of a consolidated pattern of institutional weakening, growing conflict, judicial instrumentalisation and lack of protection in the face of political violence, signaling further deterioration of the democratic environment and the structural risk faced by both the electoral process and the enabling environment for civil society.
Looking ahead to what is to come, the fourth Inter-Institutional and Multi-Party Summit for Democracy has established some particular and shared responsibilities for the different institutions to guarantee the holding of the elections on 17 August 2025, for example, the organs of public power, the Plurinational Constitutional Court, political organizations and all the actors of national life committed themselves to seek pacification “as a principle and as a path seeking dialogue and social peace.” The Executive Branch, within the framework of its constitutional powers and attributions, committed to guarantee “tranquility and citizen security” in the country. Regarding the resources for the elections, the Executive Branch committed to the provision of sufficient economic resources for the normal development of the electoral process and the Legislative Assembly to approve the “necessary and pertinent” laws to guarantee voting abroad.