ABSTRACT
Bolivian party politics is both distinctive and paradoxical. Few political parties in the Bolivian multiparty system, once formed, ever entirely disappear; they remain even in spite of their irrelevance. Two political traumas have also influenced the evolution of Bolivian party politics—the War of the Pacific and the Chaco War. Marxist political parties in Bolivia have a long, fragmented, and generally unsuccessful, if not ineffectual, history in the country. Bolivia is theoretically governed by a constitution adopted in 1967. In the 1980 presidential election slightly more than 1 million votes were cast, representing a participation of about 17 percent of the total population, not high by Latin American standards but respectable given the difficulties of holding elections in Bolivia. The existence of so many small party organizations suggests the fragility and weakness of Bolivian multiparty politics, although to a limited extent these characteristics have been encouraged by the country's electoral laws.
