December 21, 2024, 2:55 PM
December 21, 2024, 2:55 PM
The member of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), Tahuichi Tahuichi, warned Santa Cruz residents that if the Legislative Assembly does not approve the bill with the new redistribution of parliamentary seats, Santa Cruz will not have a new representative in the Legislature for the 2025 general elections.
The authority announced that if Parliament does not approve the rule until mid-January 2025, The TSE will have no choice but to call elections with “the old seat law” and maintain the current distribution.
“The Electoral Body does not guarantee the implementation of the results of the 2024 census in the 2025 presidential general elections, the old seat law will prevail. In that case, Santa Cruz is not going to win that seat that corresponds to it if the seat distribution law is not approved.”Tahuichi said in an interview with EL DEBER Radio.
However, regardless of whether the redistribution of seats is approved or not, Tahuichi noted that The issue does not affect the holding of the general electionsbut it does affect the recomposition of seats.
According to Law 421 of “Distribution of seats between departments”, of 2013, the department of La Paz has 29 parliamentary seats; Holy Cross 28; Cochabamba 19Potosí 13; Chuquisaca 10; Oruro 9; Tarija 9; Beni 8 and Pando has five seats.
According to new data from the 2024 Census, it shows that Santa Cruz is the most populated region of Bolivia with 3,115,386 inhabitants, That is, 457,762 more than in the 2012 census, when 2,657,762 inhabitants were counted.
That is, it corresponds to one more seat and would equal La Paz, which is the second most populated department with 3 million inhabitants and failed to increase its parliamentary representation and was left with 29 parliamentary seats.
If Parliament approves the new distribution Santa Cruz and La Paz would have the same number of parliamentary seats: 28, and Chuquisaca would reduce one representation for being the one that grew the least in population. This department has 600,132 inhabitants, 18,995 more than in the 2012 census when it had 581,347 people, according to INE data.
Regarding the seat redistribution project, deputy Pablo Arizaga (CC) clarified that The Constitution Commission of the 2023-2024 legislature has already discussed the issue, a body that observed the project sent by the TSE. What remains now is to request the reinstatement of the project and put it on the agenda, a task that is in charge of the presidency of Deputies.
“There has to be a restructuring of the uninominal spacesAnd with that goes hand in hand what is the adaptation of seats. The TSE has not done it and when we asked them, they told us that they will only do it in March of next year (2025),” Arizaga explained.
