Bolivians to Vote on Departmental Autonomy

Residents from the Bolivian departments of La Paz, Potosi, Chuquisaca, Oruro and Cochabamba will vote on Sunday on whether to approve autonomy statutes that would provide local governments with greater powers.

A total of 3.8 million people are registered to vote on whether to approve the statutes that would strengthen decentralized governance, a proposal which the current government supports. 

Bolivian President Evo Morales seeks to institutionalize decentralized governance in the areas of administration and finance throughout the country’s nine departments. ​The departments of Pando and Tarija have already implemented their autonomy statutes. 

In efforts to do so, last May the government approved an autonomy law, which establishes different levels of decentralization and also includes a measure that will define revenue distribution from natural resource exploitation.

Under the details of the new autonomy law, the central government will maintain control over foreign, fiscal, energy and security policies.

As well as the departmental autonomy statutes, residents of Totora Marka in Oruro and Charagua in Santa Cruz will vote on whether to become autonomous Indigenous territories.