1978 Bolivian general election

General elections were held in Bolivia on 9 July 1978.[1] The elections were the first held since 1966, with several military coups taking place during the late 1960s and early 1970s.[1] Although Juan Pereda of the Nationalist Union of the People won the presidential elections, more votes were cast than there were registered voters.[2] After examining a number of allegations of fraud and other irregularities, the Electoral Court decided to annul the results on 20 July.[3] The following day, Pereda was installed as President following a military coup. Pereda himself was overthrown by yet another military coup in November, which saw General David Padilla assume the presidency.[4] Fresh elections were held the following year, with Padilla transferring power to his democratically elected successor, Wálter Guevara.

Campaign

Several alliances were formed for the elections:[5]

Alliance	Parties
Democratic Alliance of National Revolution	Authentic Revolutionary Party
	Revolutionary Nationalist Movement
Democratic and Popular Union	Communist Party
	Leftwing Revolutionary Nationalist Movement
	Movement of the National Left
	Alliance of the National Left
	Offensive of the Democratic Left
	Popular Movement for National Liberation
	Revolutionary Left Movement
	Socialist Party–Aponte
	Tupaj Katari Revolutionary Movement
Nationalist Union of the People	Barrientista National Union
	Bolivian Socialist Falange
	Committee of National Unity
	Revolutionary Left Party

Juan Pereda was supported in his presidential bid by both the Nationalist Union of the People and the Nationalist Revolutionary Movement of the People, whilst René Bernal Escalante was the candidate of both the PDC–PRB alliance and the Eastern Rural Party.[6]

Results

Party	Presidential candidate	Votes	%	Seats
				Chamber	Senate
Nationalist Union of the People	Juan Pereda	986,140	50.9
Democratic and Popular Union	Hernán Siles Zuazo	484,383	25.0
Democratic Alliance of National Revolution	Víctor Paz Estenssoro	213,622	11.0
PDC–PRB	René Bernal Escalante	167,131	8.6
Nationalist Revolutionary Movement of the People	Juan Pereda	40,905	2.1
Revolutionary Left Front	Casiano Amurrio	23,459	1.2
Indian Movement Túpac Katari	Luciano Tapia Quisbert	12,207	0.6
Socialist Party	Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz	8,323	0.4
Eastern Rural Party	René Bernal Escalante	1,171	0.1
Invalid/blank votes		53,330	–	–	–
Total		1,971,968	100
Registered voters/turnout		1,921,556	102.6	–	–
Source: Nohlen

References

1. Nohlen, D (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume II, p133 ISBN 978-0-19-928358-3
2. Nohlen, p143
3. Waltraud Q Morales (2003) A brief history of Bolivia New York: Facts On File, p195
4. Nohlen, p157
5. Nohlen, p139
6. Nohlen, p150