16°29′46″S68°07′59″W / 16.49611°S 68.13306°W /-16.49611; -68.13306
Plurinational Legislative Assembly Asamblea Legislativa Plurinacional | |
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| Type | |
| Type | |
| Houses | Chamber of Senators, Chamber of Deputies |
| History | |
| Founded | 1825 unicameral, 1831 bicameral |
| Leadership | |
President of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly (ex oficio as Vice President) | |
Diego Ávila, PDC since 6 November 2025 | |
Roberto Castro Salazar, PDC since 6 November 2025 | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 166 36 Senators 130 Deputies |
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Chamber of Senators political groups | Government (23) Supported by (13)
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 | |
Chamber of Deputies political groups | Government (75) Supported by (44)
Opposition (11) |
| Elections | |
Chamber of Senatorsvoting system | Party-list proportional representation |
Chamber of Deputiesvoting system | Compensatorymixed system (MMP) withseat linkage |
Last Chamber of Senators election | 17 August 2025 |
Last Chamber of Deputies election | 17 August 2025 |
| Meeting place | |
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| New headquarters of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly La Paz,Bolivia | |
| Website | |
| https://web.senado.gob.bo/ http://www.diputados.bo | |
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 Bolivia portal |
ThePlurinational Legislative Assembly (Spanish:Asamblea Legislativa Plurinacional) is the nationallegislature ofBolivia, placed inLa Paz, the country's seat of government.
The assembly isbicameral, consisting of alower house (theChamber of Deputies orCámara de Diputados) and anupper house (theChamber of Senators, orCámara de Senadores). The Vice President of Bolivia also serves as theex officio President of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly. Each house elects its own directorate: a President, first and second Vice Presidents, and three or four Secretaries (for the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, respectively). Each party is said to have aseat (Spanish:bancada) consisting of its legislators. The representatives of eachdepartment comprise a brigade (brigada). Each house considers legislation in standingcommittees.
The Chamber of Senators has 36 seats. Each of the country's ninedepartments returns foursenators elected byproportional representation (using theD'Hondt method).[1] (From 1985 to 2009, the Senate had 27 seats: three seats per department: two from the party or formula that receives the most votes, with the third senator representing the second-placed party.) Senators are elected from party lists to serve five-year terms, and the minimum age to hold a Senate seat is 35 years.
The Chamber of Deputies comprises 130 seats, elected using aseat linkage based mixedcompensatory system (formixed-member proportional representation): 70 deputies are elected to represent single-memberelectoral districts, 7 of which are Indigenous or Campesino seats elected by theusos y costumbres of minority groups, 60 are elected from party lists on a departmental basis.[1] Deputies also serve five-year terms, and must be aged at least 25 on the day of the election. Party lists are required to alternate between men and women, and in the single-member districts, men are required to run with a female alternate, and vice versa. At least 50% of the deputies from single-member districts are required to be women.
Both the Chamber of Senators, and the proportional part of the Chamber of Deputies is elected based on the vote for the presidential candidates, while the deputies from the single-member districts are elected separately.[1]
The legislative body was formerly known as theNational Congress (Spanish:Congreso Nacional).
The two chambers of Congress meet in the legislative palace located onPlaza Murillo, La Paz's main city-centre square. Plaza Murillo is also flanked by the presidential palace (informally known as thePalacio Quemado – the "Burnt Palace" – on account of repeated attempts to raze it to the ground in the 19th century) and the cathedral of Nuestra Señora de La Paz. Prior to becoming the seat of the legislature in 1904, the congress building had, at different times, housed aconvent and auniversity.
The Vice-President, in his capacity as President of Congress, has an imposing suite of offices on Calle Mercado in central La Paz. The building, designed byEmilio Villanueva, was erected during the 1920s and was originally intended to serve as the headquarters of Bolivia'scentral bank (Banco de la Nación Boliviana). UnderJaime Paz Zamora's 1989–1993presidency, the building was reassigned to the vice-presidency, but the vice-presidential staff did not relocate entirely until major reconstruction and renovation work, starting in 1997, had been carried out. The Library of Congress and the National Congressional Archive are also located on the premises.
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