A half-century history of the electoral management body of Bolivia

In 1956, the first election with universal suffrage in Bolivia's history was carried out. For this process, the National Electoral Court (CNE) was founded, whose subsequent history is presented in this article. The first phase of the CNE, from 1956 to 1985, was one during which it did not function on a permanent basis and many electoral processes were carried out under a cloud of suspicion of irregularities due to government control over the organization. The second phase runs from 1985 to 1991, and in this period the electoral management body is established on a permanent basis but under the control of the political parties, resulting in doubts about the legitimacy of the results. In the last phase, from 1991 to 2007, the political system agreed to establish a CNE which was authentically impartial and independent, demanding that it oversee irreproachable elections which would thus assure elected authorities a strong legitimacy. This article examines the legal provisions which govern the functioning of the electoral organization, but above all it seeks to understand the CNE's actions by considering the political, intellectual and social context in which they were carried out.