The deception will not be so easy

Written by José Gary Áñez Sánchez, journalist

All the verse that led us to the 28-day strike fell with this headline! The TSE announces that it will not be able to assign seats for the next elections if the census data arrives in December 2024.

Let us remember that the technical impossibility of carrying out the census in 2023 is the argument without technical support put forward by the government, through the Minister of Planning, and that making all possible efforts has reached Decree 4824, approved by President Luis Arce on November 11th. This norm has a single article with two sections: the first determines that the registration date is March 23, 2024 and the second instructs the dissemination of “preliminary results” in September of that year.

The Minister of Planning, Sergio Cusicanqui, affirmed on Sunday —20 minutes before the town hall— that the Government was going to send the final data of the survey to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal in December 2024 so that it proceeds with the allocation of seats, one of the consequences most sensitive of the next census operation. After the announcement of the TSE requiring the “official” results in September 2024, raised on November 17, the minister stated: “The National Institute of Statistics (INE) is going to work to be able to issue the official population results within the framework of the Population and housing census to allow the distribution of economic resources by co-participation in the month of September 2024; these results will also be sent to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), the minister affirmed.

The questions are: Where is the director of the INE? Where is the technical criteria of this decision? What is the difference between preliminary, final and official results? All these doubts generate at least mistrust about the honesty of the authorities, within the context of a country submerged in a crisis for not complying with the law, leading the region with the most inhabitants in Bolivia to one of the toughest measures asking for that a survey be implemented that provides us with information to guarantee basic services to more than 1,000,000 people who are not counted for health, education, infrastructure, security, etc. In the last census, Santa Cruz had more than 2,000,000. of people, now due to the projections, Santa Cruz has more than 3.3 million people. We only ask that we be serious. The government must be considerate and this incident clearly shows us that there is no argument for: first, not approving the census for 2023; and second, not listening to a people that suffers and sacrifices so that the tasks that the government must do by mandate of the constitution are done. Thirdly, not to approve the change of decree 4824 to law, because in any case, that decree must be modified in the shortest possible time so that it includes the new date proposed by the TSE and also guarantees: a) The distribution of seats b) The boundary delimitation. c) the new distribution of economic resources to the departments.

The TSE announcement changes everything. Let’s see the electoral schedule:

The president’s inauguration date will be November 8. Ninety days before the date of possession, on August 10, the elections would have to be to allow the official calculation, the probable repetition of tables and a second round. The call for elections must be made 150 days before the election date, that is, March 13, 2025. For this, the law that defines the distribution of seats and the delimitation of 70 constituencies must be ready; in addition to the formula for the distribution of economic resources to the regions.

Now, let’s see the little problem that will make us jump all the technical reasons for not doing the poll in 2023. How many seats are there currently? There are 130 seats. How are they distributed? 60 by population criteria; 63 by single-member criteria and seven by indigenous criteria

The seats by city are: La Paz has 29; Santa Cruz, 28; Cochabamba, 19; Potosí is 13; Chuquisaca, 10; Tarija is 9; Oruro is 9; Beni, 8; Pando has 5m making a total of 130 seats.

Now it must be explained how a consensus is going to be reached in order to make a law with a drastic change in these seat cadres, in the delimitation of constituencies and the formula for the distribution of resources to the regions in the times that the INE has been imposed ( that does not have a director) and the Minister of Planning to get the assembly to accept the new configuration and issue a law until March 13, 2025 to call the elections with “official” data, which we do not know if they are preliminary or finals. Understanding that if it is the preliminary data that feeds the law, they are susceptible to being challenged!

Minister Cusicanqui clarified that all the results delivered by the INE “are official”, when asked about the legal scope of these “preliminary results”. The INE has no director! How to trust that the data that they are giving us now will not be challenged and thus disable the process for a technical matter.

The deception will not be so easy, gentlemen. For these reasons, the census must be carried out at least in November 2023. In this way, at least 4 months are obtained to make adjustments and deliver the final and official data in September 2024 for the elaboration of the law that allows the call to be made. to elections with the new configuration of seats, delimitation of constituencies and distribution of resources.

We only ask for seriousness and consideration. These brave people suffer for the whole nation. The justice of our claim has become the cause of the spirit of a people. Do not forget that we have been beaten, assaulted, imprisoned by people who must protect us, guarantee our dignified coexistence, and give us opportunities for a better future. Santa Cruz knows about these struggles, hopefully it’s not too late and he gets tired of shouting at a deaf government. I’m just saying hopefully!