Supreme Electoral Tribunal seeks to incorporate the obligation of political debate in general and subnational elections

The member of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), Nacy Gutiérrez, presented a bill to incorporate mandatory political debate for candidates for public office in the country.

Gutiérrez justified that the objective is promote the right to an informed vote so that voters know who to vote for at the polls.

“A bill has been submitted to amend Law 026 of 2010 of the electoral regime to incorporate political debate for the reflection and deliberation of the programmatic proposals of the candidates for public office in elections,” said the member of the electoral body who was in Tarija.

The obligation is for the candidates for president or president, vice president or vice presidentgovernors, mayors and councilors.

With this legal instrument, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal intends to apply it for the general and subnational elections of 2025.

The vocal warned that in the project of Law establishes sanctions for candidates that they fail to comply, such as the suspension of state subsidies

Gutiérrez, along with TSE members Tahuichi Tahuichi Quispe and Gustavo Ávila, met last night with journalists and media outlets from Tarija to talk about the electoral cycle between this year and 2025, in addition to the agreements reached at the multi-party meeting on July 10.

“This electoral body has a policy of transparency in all its actions, we do not hide anything and our doors are open to inform the population about the electoral register and the electoral process,” said Tahuichi Quispe.

The member stated that after this year’s judicial elections, the calendar for general and subnational elections will start in April 2025 and will end on November 8 of that year when the elected authorities will be elected.

However, he insisted that this year the priority of the electoral body These are judicial elections because “no one in the country wants to have extended magistrates.”

The TSE, through this type of meetingsaims to present itself as an institution that guarantees political rights and democracy in Bolivia.