Bolivian judicial election, 2011

The first Bolivian judicial election was held on 16 October 2011. The national vote was held to elect magistrates to serve on the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (Spanish: Tribunal Supremo de Justicia), the Plurinational Constitutional Tribunal (Spanish: Tribunal Constitucional Plurinacional), the Agro-environmental Tribunal (Spanish: Tribunal Agroambiental) and members of the Council of the Judiciary (Spanish: Consejo de la Magistratura). It was originally scheduled to be held on 5 December 2010, but officials of the National Electoral Court and of the MAS majority in the Plurinational Legislative Assembly delayed it. The vote will be the first time that a Latin American country directly elects its highest judicial officials.

The governing MAS party said the vote would make judges more accountable ad improve the efficacy of the judicial process. However, the opposition parties urged voters to either abstain or leave the ballots blank on the grounds that the election could "erode the independence of the judiciary" and strengthen President Evo Morales as 114 of the candidates were chosen by a Congress dominated by MAS. Previously judges had been directly elected by the Congress.

Proposed Supreme Tribunal magistrates must be approved as qualified by a two-thirds vote of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly. Candidates are forbidden from campaigning and from affiliating with political parties.

Over 5,000,000 people registered to vote.

Ipsos Apoyo said that with 76.2% of votes counted, between 46% to 48% of votes cast were invalid, while valid votes accounted for about 38%, with the remaining ballots left blank. Absenteeism was roughly 20%. It was read as a setback for Morales, particularly in light of the 2011 Bolivian protests.

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