Vice President of Bolivia
The vice president of Bolivia (Spanish: Vicepresidente de Bolivia), officially known as the vice president of the Plurinational State of Bolivia (Spanish: Vicepresidente del Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia), is the second highest political position in Bolivia. The vice president replaces the president in his definitive absence or others impediment and is the ex officio President of the Legislative Assembly.
Vice President of the
Plurinational State of Bolivia
Vice Presidential Palace
Direct popular vote (two rounds if necessary)
19 November 1826
22,904 bolivianos per month[3]
Thirty nine men have served as vice president of Bolivia since the office came into existence on 19 November 1826. José Ramón de Loayza was the first vice president of the Republic of Bolivia. The 38th vice president, Álvaro García Linera, was the last vice president of the Republic of Bolivia and the first vice president of the Plurinational State of Bolivia. The second and current vice president of the Plurnational State is David Choquehuanca (since 8 November 2020). There are currently five living former vice presidents. The most recent former vice president to die was Julio Garrett Ayllón on 19 March 2018.
The vice president is the first person in the presidential line of succession and assumes the presidency if the president dies, resigns, or is impeached and removed from office. Four vice presidents have ascended to the presidency following the resignation of their predecessor (José Luis Tejada Sorzano, Mamerto Urriolagoitía, Jorge Qurioga, and Carlos Mesa). René Barrientos was the only vice president to assume the presidency by deposing his own predecessor, Víctor Paz Estenssoro. When Barrientos died suddenly on 27 April 1969, Luis Adolfo Siles Salinas became the only vice president to become president through their predecessor's death.
Seven former vice presidents (Aniceto Arce, Mariano Baptista, Severo Fernández, Eliodoro Villazón, Hernán Siles Zuazo, René Barrientos, and Jaime Paz Zamora) were elected president in their own right while two (José Miguel de Velasco and Mariano Enrique Calvo) became president by other means. José Miguel de Velasco was the only vice president who had already served as president (1828) prior to becoming vice president.
Vice presidents[edit]
Republic of Bolivia (1826–1836)[edit]
The office of vice president was first established on 19 November 1826, during the presidency of Antonio José de Sucre, following the promulgation of the Political Constitution of 1826, the first in the country's history.[4] However, Sucre himself would never elect a candidate to be presented to the National Congress, leaving the position vacant throughout his term. The first elected vice president was José Miguel de Velasco on 12 August 1828. However, he was prevented from exercising the position as he instead served as interim president in the absence of the elected president Andrés de Santa Cruz.[5]
As Santa Cruz never appeared to take office, the Conventional Assembly convened on 18 December 1828 to elect new leaders. José Ramón de Loayza would be elected vice president to Pedro Blanco Soto. Loayza served as acting president in the absence of Soto until 26 December at which point Soto assumed the office of the presidency and Loayza would exercise the vice presidency for the first time.[6]