Independence: 6 August 1825 (from Spain)
National holiday: Independence Day, 6 August (1825)
Constitution: 2 February 1967; revised in August 1994
Legal system: based on Spanish law and Napoleonic Code; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Suffrage: 18 years of age, universal and compulsory (married); 21 years of age, universal and compulsory (single)
Executive branch: chief of state: President Hugo BANZER Suarez (since 6 August 1997); Vice President Jorge Fernando QUIROGA Ramirez (since 6 August 1997); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government head of government: President Hugo BANZER Suarez (since 6 August 1997); Vice President Jorge Fernando QUIROGA Ramirez (since 6 August 1997); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president elections: president and vice president elected on the same ticket by popular vote for five-year terms; election last held 1 June 1997 (next to be held June 2002) election results: Hugo BANZER Suarez elected president; percent of vote - Hugo BANZER Suarez (ADN) 22%; Jaime PAZ Zamora (MIR) 17%, Juan Carlos DURAN (MNR) 18%, Ivo KULJIS (UCS) 16%, Remedios LOZA (CONDEPA) 17%; no candidate received a majority of the popular vote; Hugo BANZER Suarez won a congressional runoff election on 5 August 1997 after forming a "megacoalition" with MIR, UCS, CONDEPA, NFR and PDC
Legislative branch: bicameral National Congress or Congreso Nacional consists of Chamber of Senators or Camara de Senadores (27 seats; members are directly elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms) and Chamber of Deputies or Camara de Diputados (130 seats; members are directly elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms) elections: Chamber of Senators and Chamber of Deputies - last held 1 June 1997 (next to be held June 2002) election results: Chamber of Senators - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - ADN 11, MIR 7, MNR 4, CONDEPA 3, UCS 2; Chamber of Deputies - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - ADN 32, MNR 26, MIR 23, UCS 21, CONDEPA 19, MBL 5, IU 4
Judicial branch: Supreme Court (Corte Suprema), judges appointed for 10-year terms by National Congress
Political parties and leaders: Alternative of Democratic Socialism or
ASD ; April 9 Revolutionary Vanguard or VR-9
; Bolivian Communist Party or PCB ;
Bolivian Renovating Alliance or ARBOL [Marcelo FERNANDEZ, Hugo
VILLEGAS]; Bolivian Socialist Falange or FSB ; Christian
Democrat or PDC ; Civic Solidarity Union or UCS
; Conscience of the Fatherland or CONDEPA [Remedios
LOZA Alvarado]; Free Bolivia Movement or MBL ; Front
of Katarista Unity or FULKA ; Front of National
Salvation or FSN ; Katarismo National Unity or
KND ; Movement of the Revolutionary Left or MIR
; Movement Towards Socialism-Popular Instrument for
Solidarity with the People or MAS-IPSP ;
Nationalist Democratic Action or ADN ; Nationalist
Katarista Movement or MKN ; Nationalist Revolutionary
Movement or MNR ; New Republican Force or
NFR ; New Youth Force ;
Patriotic Axis of Convergence or EJE-P ; Popular
Patriotic Movement or MPP ; Revolutionary Front of the
Left or FRI ; Socialist Party One or PS-1 ;
Solidarity and Democracy or SYD ; Tupac Katari
Revolutionary Liberation Movement or MRTK-L [Victor Hugo CARDENAS
Conde]; United Left or IU ; Unity and Progress Movement
or MUP
note: political blocs include: left - MBL, EJE-P, VR-9, ASD, FRI, PCB,
IU, FSN, PS-1, FSB, and MAS; center left - MIR, PDC, and New Youth
Force; center - MNR; center right - ADN and NFR; populist - UCS,
CONDEPA, SYD, MUP, and MPP; evangelical - ARBOL; indigenous - MRTK-L,
MKN, and KND
Political pressure groups and leaders: Cocalero Group