Social Democratic Movement

The Social Democratic Movement (Spanish: Movimiento Demócrata Social; MDS),^[10] often shortened to just the Democrats (Spanish: Demócratas), is a right-wing political party in Bolivia founded in 2013 for the movement for greater autonomy for the eastern departments of the Media Luna.

Social Democratic Movement Movimiento Demócrata Social
President	Ruben Costas Aguilera
Founded	15 December 2013; 10 years ago (2013-12-15)
Preceded by	Popular Consensus
Headquarters	Cochabamba
Ideology	Liberal conservatism Federalism Regionalism[1]
Political position	Right-wing[2][3][4] to far-right[5][6][7]
International affiliation	International Democracy Union[8]
Regional affiliation	Union of Latin American Parties[9] Christian Democrat Organization of America
Colours	Green, white, yellow
Chamber of Deputies	0 / 130
Senate	0 / 36
Website
democratas.bo
Politics of Bolivia Political parties Elections

History

Ruben Costas, governor of Santa Cruz department, announced the party's formation in March 2013.^[11] Twenty leaders gathered to launch the party in April 2013, including Costas, Beni governor Carmelo Lens and his predecessor Ernesto Suarez, Senator Bernard Gutierrez (PPB-Cochabamba), and Cochabamba council member Ninoska Lazarte. The launch was hosted by Savina Cuéllar, the former prefect of Chuquisaca Department, who as of April 2013, was under house arrest facing charges for the 24 May 2008, violence in Sucre.^[12]

After a failed petition to legally merge the registration of Costas' Truth and Social Democracy (VERDES) party, Renewing Freedom and Democracy (Libertad y Democracia Renovadora; Líder), and Popular Consensus in June, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal authorized Popular Consensus to rename itself the Social Democratic Movement in August 2013.^[13]

MDS participated in the 2014 election in alliance with the National Unity Front (UN), supporting the presidential candidacy of Samuel Doria Medina, electing 4 Deputies and one senator.

For the 2019 election, MDS and UN again joined to form the Bolivia Says No alliance, nominating Senator Óscar Ortiz as its presidential candidate. Within two weeks, the two parties split over internal disagreements, with MDS moving forward as the alliance's sole leader.^[14]

Party member and opposition Senator Jeanine Áñez became interim president of Bolivia in November 2019, following protests caused by alleged electoral fraud which led to the resignation of the government of Evo Morales. This move was contested by senators for the Movement for Socialism (MAS), Morales' party, who were majority in the assembly and were not in attendance, and thus stated that the vote for interim president took place without a quorum.^[15] However, the decision was upheld by the Plurinational Constitutional Court, which stated that it followed the succession mechanism stated in the Constitution of Bolivia.^[16][17]

Nevertheless, MAS maintains that Áñez's assumption to the presidency amounted to a coup d'état and in 2021 she was arrested under various charges relating to her assumption to the presidency.

References

1. Lansford, Tom (ed.). Political Handbook of the World 2014. p. 156. ISBN 9781483386263.
2. Cyr, Jennifer, ed. (2017). The Difficulties of Survival and Revival in a Hyper-Fluid Party System: Bolivia after 2005. Cambridge University Press. pp. 176–200. doi:10.1017/9781316995723.007. ISBN 978-1-107-18979-9. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
3. European Parliamentary Research Service (April 2015). "Bolivia: political parties" (PDF). European Parliamentary Research Service. p. 2. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
5. Velásquez, Alejo Vargas (9 June 2023). Las Relaciones de las Fuerzas Militares y de Policía en América Latina (in Spanish). Universidad Nacional de Colombia. ISBN 978-958-505-311-3. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
6. Souverein, Jan; R, José Luis Exeni (2020). Nuevo mapa de actores en Bolivia: crisis, polarización e incertidumbre (2019-2020) (in Spanish). Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. ISBN 978-9917-30-007-6. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
7. Bringel, Breno (1 January 2020). "(2020) Bolsonaro y el fin del ciclo democrático en Brasil". Fundación Rosa Luxemburgo. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
8. "Members | International Democrat Union". February 2018.
9. "Partidos Miembros". Archived from the original on 31 March 2022. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
10. "TSE inscribe al Movimiento Demócratas". Los Tiempos. 28 August 2013. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013.
11. Candori, Iván (29 March 2013). "Costas da forma a un nuevo partido". La Razón (in Spanish). Retrieved 24 November 2013.
12. "Lanzan Movimiento Demócrata Social". Los Tiempos (in Spanish). Cochabamba, Bolivia. 25 April 2013. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
13. "TSE inscribe al Movimiento Demócratas". Los Tiempos (in Spanish). Cochabamba, Bolivia. 28 August 2013. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
14. "Demócratas y UN rompen la alianza; Evo se inscribe y el PDC lleva a Jaime Paz | EL DEBER". eldeber.com.bo (in Spanish). 29 November 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2022.
15. Tuckman, Jo; Collyns, Dan (13 November 2019). "Bolivia: Jeanine Añez claims presidency after ousting of Evo Morales". The Guardian. La Paz. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
16. "Áñez asume la Presidencia de Bolivia ante vacancia y aplicando la sucesión constitucional" [Áñez assumes the Presidency of Bolivia due to vacancy and applying the constitutional succession]. El Deber (in Spanish). 12 November 2019. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
17. "TCP avala sucesión constitucional en la Presidencia" [TCP endorses constitutional succession in the Presidency]. El Deber (in Spanish). 12 November 2019. Retrieved 13 November 2019.