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Christian Democratic Party Partido Demócrata Cristiano | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | PDC |
| Leader | Rodrigo Paz Pereira |
| President | Jorge Suárez Vargas |
| Founded | February 6, 1954; 71 years ago (1954-02-06) |
| Headquarters | La Paz |
| Membership(2025) | 42,603[1] |
| Ideology | Christian democracy Economic liberalism[2][3][4] Historical: Third Way[5] Historical faction: Revolutionary nationalism[5] Revolutionary socialism[5] |
| Political position | Centre[6] tocentre-right[7] |
| Regional affiliation | Christian Democrat Organization of America |
| Colours | Teal Red |
| Senate | 16 / 36 |
| Deputies | 49 / 130 |
| Party flag | |
_Bolivia.svg) | |
| Website | |
Official website | |
TheChristian Democratic Party (Spanish:Partido Demócrata Cristiano,PDC) is aChristian democraticpolitical party inBolivia.
Founded on 6 February 1954 as the Social Christian Party (Spanish:Partido Social Cristiano, PSC), it assumed its present name at a party congress in November 1964. Its intellectual foundations were study centres of the Church's social doctrine, the Bolivian Catholic Action and "Integral Humanism" (a centre for the study of the philosophy ofJacques Maritain). It remains a conventionally "tercerista" Party, calling for athird way between capitalism and socialism – a way that would be more humane and truly democratic than either competing sociopolitical system. Founded by Remo Di Natale,Benjamín Miguel Harb, Javier Caballero, and Emanuel Andrade.[5]
The Christian Democratic Party took part in the 1958 and 1962 congressional elections, and in 1962Benjamín Miguel Harb became its first deputy. It boycotted the 1964 and 1966 presidential votes.[8]
In 1967, the party took part in the Government of the president ofRené Barrientos Ortuño, being given responsibility for the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and this was a major misjudgment by the PDC leadership. When military forces carried out bloody raids against mining camps, the Christian Democratic Party was forced to withdraw in anger and embarrassment, with severe internal divisions resulting. The party's youth organization had been discontented with the third-road philosophy for some time, and the mine camp invasions helped to crystallize their rebellion; they favored revolutionary socialism as a solution to Bolivia's dilemmas. In the late 1960s, the youth wing seceded to form the Revolutionary PDC which later became theRevolutionary Left Movement (MIR). Several discontented members of the party, includingJose Luis Roca Garcia, also left to join GeneralAlfredo Ovando Candía's short-lived nationalist revolutionary government in 1969–1970.[5]
Under the dictatorship of PresidentHugo Banzer Suárez the Christian Democrats fought for human rights, fundamental freedoms and the holding of elections, but its presidentBenjamín Miguel Harb was exiled in 1974 and its organizing secretaryFelix Vargas forced to leave the country shortly afterwards.[9]
The PDC took part in 1978 general elections, running former Defense Minister GeneralRené Bernal Escalante, a leader of the right-wing faction of which supported theHugo Banzer Suárez regime.[10] After the 1978 election,René Bernal Escalante split from the PDC and founded theChristian Democratic Union.[10]
For the elections held on 1 July 1979, the party joined theRevolutionary Nationalist Movement-Alliance with four other parties — theRevolutionary Nationalist Movement (MNR), theAuthentic Revolutionary Party (PRA), theMarxist Leninist Communist Party (PCML) and theTupaj Katari Revolutionary Movement (MRTK). The Alliance ran a MNR's leaderVíctor Paz Estenssoro as its presidential candidate and a PDC's leaderLuis Ossio Sanjines as its vice-presidential candidate.[11] In 1979 the Christian Democratic Party won nine seats in the Chamber of Deputies and three in the Senate.
In 1980 the PDC took part in an electoral coalitionDemocratic Revolutionary Front-New Alternative backing ex-PresidentLuis Adolfo Siles Salinas, which polled few votes; the leader of the PDCBenjamín Miguel Harb ran as vice-presidential candidate.[11]
Soon after the restoration of democratic government, in November 1982, Christian Democrats took a seat in theHernán Siles Zuazo Government, but withdrew from the coalition in October 1984.[12]
The PDC took part in 1985 general elections, runningLuis Ossio Sanjines as its presidential candidate andJaime Ponce García as vice-presidential candidate, and won three seats in the Chamber of Deputies.[11]Although winning no legislative seats as an ally of theNationalist Democratic Action in May 1989,Luis Ossio Sanjines, was elected Vice-President of the Republic as a result of its adherence to theNationalist Democratic Action –Revolutionary Left Movement pact (Patriotic Agreement) in August. The PDC campaigned as a member of thePatriotic Agreement in 1993 elections.[12] The Christian Democratic Party was one of the founding components ofSocial and Democratic Power (PODEMOS), for which it provided its electoral registration. Following the 2005 election, this alliance led the parliamentary opposition to President Evo Morales.[13][14]
The party joinedCreemos for the2020 Bolivian general election.
For the2025 Bolivian general election, the PDC nominated senator fromTarijaRodrigo Paz Pereira as its presidential candidate.[15] In a major upset, Paz advanced to the second round of voting, where he defeated former PresidentJorge Quiroga, becoming Bolivia's first President to belong to the PDC.[16][17] The party also won 16 seats in the Senate and 49 seats in the Chamber of Deputies.[18]
| Election | Presidential nominee | Votes | % | Votes | % | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First round | Second round | |||||
| 1978 | René Bernal Escalante | 167,131 | 8.63% | Lost N | ||
| 1979 | Víctor Paz Estenssoro (MNR) | 527,184 | 35.87% | 64[a] | 44.44% | LostN |
| 1980 | Luis Adolfo Siles Salinas (OID) | 39,401 | 3.01% | LostN | ||
| 1985 | Luis Ossio | 24,079 | 1.60% | LostN | ||
| 1989 | Hugo Banzer (ADN) | 357,298 | 25.24% | LostN | ||
| 1993 | 346,865 | 21.05% | LostN | |||
| 1997 | 484,705 | 22.26% | 118[a] | 79.73% | Elected Y | |
| 2002 | Did not contest | |||||
| 2005 | Jorge Quiroga (PODEMOS) | 821,745 | 28.59% | LostN | ||
| 2009 | Did not contest | |||||
| 2014 | Jorge Quiroga | 467,311 | 9.04% | LostN | ||
| 2019 | Chi Hyun Chung | 539,081 | 8.78% | AnnulledN | ||
| 2020 | Luis Fernando Camacho (Creemos) | 862,186 | 14.00% | LostN | ||
| 2025 | Rodrigo Paz Pereira | 1,717,532 | 32.06% | 3,506,458 | 54.89% | ElectedY |
| Election | Party leader | Votes | % | Chamber seats | +/- | Position | Senate seats | +/- | Position | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1958 | Benjamín Miguel Harb | 2,888 | 0.66% | 0 / 68 | New |  4th | 0 / 18 | New | 4th | Extra-parliamentary |
| 1960 | Did not contest | 0 / 68 |  0 | — | 0 / 18 | 0 | — | Extra-parliamentary | ||
| 1962 | Benjamín Miguel Harb | 19,825 | 1.90% | 1 / 72 | 1 | 4th | 0 / 27 | 0 | 2nd | Opposition |
| 1964 | 228 | 0.02% | 1 / 73 | 0 | 4th | 0 / 27 | 0 | 2nd | Opposition | |
| 1966 | Boycotted | 0 / 102 |  1 | — | 0 / 27 | 0 | — | Extra-parliamentary | ||
| 1979 | Luis Ossio | As part ofMNRA | 9 / 117 | 9 | 4th | 3 / 27 | 3 | 3rd | Snap election | |
| 1980 | As part ofFDR–NA | 5 / 130 | 4 | 5th | 0 / 27 | 3 | 5th | Military junta(1980-1982) | ||
| Coalition(1982-1984) | ||||||||||
| Opposition(1984-1985) | ||||||||||
| 1985 | 24,079 | 1.60% | 3 / 130 | 2 | 8th | 0 / 27 | 0 | 4th | Support | |
| 1989 | In coalition withADN | 0 / 130 | 3 | 6th | 0 / 27 | 0 | 5th | Extra-parliamentary | ||
| 1993[b] | As part ofAP | 0 / 130 | 0 | 9th | 0 / 27 | 0 | 5th | Extra-parliamentary | ||
| 1997[b] | In coalition withADN andNFR | 0 / 130 | 0 | 8th | 0 / 27 | 0 | 6th | Extra-parliamentary | ||
| 2002 | Did not contest | 0 / 130 | 0 | — | 0 / 27 | 0 | — | Extra-parliamentary | ||
| 2005 | As part ofPODEMOS | 43 / 130 | 43 | 2nd | 13 / 27 | 13 | 2nd | Opposition | ||
| 2009 | Did not contest | 0 / 130 | 43 | — | 0 / 27 | 13 | — | Extra-parliamentary | ||
| 2014 | Jorge Quiroga | 454,233 | 9.06% | 10 / 130 | 10 | 3rd | 2 / 36 | 2 | 3rd | Opposition |
| 2019 | Jorge Suárez Vargas | 522,582 | 8.80% | 9 / 130 | 1 | 3rd | 0 / 36 | 2 | 4th | Annulled |
| 2020 | As part ofCreemos | 16 / 130 | 7 | 3rd | 4 / 36 | 4 | 4th | Opposition | ||
| 2025 | 1,683,891 | 32.15% | 47 / 130 | 29 | 1st | 16 / 36 | 12 | 1st | Goverment | |
| International | |
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| National | |
