Bolivian general election, 2002

Bolivian general election, 2002

← 1997 June 30, 2002 2005 →
President, all 27 + 130 seats in the Plurinational Legislative Assembly
Nominee Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada Evo Morales Manfred Reyes Villa Party MNR-MBL MAS NFR Running mate Carlos Mesa Antonio Peredo Ivo Kuljis Popular vote 624,126 581,884 581,163 Percentage 22.5% 20.9% 20.9%   Nominee Jaime Paz Zamora Felipe Quispe Jhonny Fernández Party MIR–FRI MIP UCS Running mate Carlos Saavedra Esther Balboa Marlene Fernandez Popular vote 453,375 169,239 153,210 Percentage 16.3% 6.1% 5.5%
Party performance by department
President before election Jorge Quiroga Nationalist Democratic Action Elected President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada MNR-MBL

Jorge Quiroga
Nationalist Democratic Action

Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada
MNR-MBL

General elections were held in Bolivia on 30 June 2002. As no candidate for the presidency received over 50% of the vote, the National Congress was required to elect a President. Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada was elected with 84 votes to the 43 received by Evo Morales.

Although Bolivia has had a long history of political instability since independence in 1825, the election in 2002 marked Bolivia's fifth consecutive democratic election.  The most recent uninterrupted period of democratic rule began in 1982 as Bolivia developed a unitary political system, with nine departments, divided into 22 provinces and 314 municipalities. At this time, a competitive party system developed around three major parties—the center-right MNR and ADN, and the center-left MIR. In 1989, two populist parties emerged to compete with the three established parties: the Conciencia de Patria (Condepa) and Union Civica Solidaridad (UCS). While the major axis of competition remained along the three established parties, the populist parties combined to capture a third of the popular vote in 1997.

In April of 2000, major conflicts over the privatization of water infrastructure in Cochabamba led to violent protests. During that same time, the ADN government moved to rid the country of coca farms. These two events majorly contributed to the increase in support for then Senator Evo Morales and the widespread dissatisfaction with the ADN government. The general dissatisfaction of rural populations in Bolivia increased to the extent that large indigenous protests in La Paz the week before the election pushed for a constituent assembly to better represent the rural and indigenous social groups in the constitution. Because of the threat these marches posed to the stability of the election, the government agreed to hold a Special Session considering constitutional reforms, after the election.