Referéndum y Asamblea Constituyente: autonomías departamentales en Bolivia

On 2 July 2006, Boliva held a national referendum about departamental autonomy as part of the process of state decentralization and as an institutional response to the dire political and social crisis.The inclusion in the constitution of figures such as referendum, constitutional assembly and citizen legislative initiation was the response to the social demands and unrest given under the framework of semidirect democracy which allowed for an institutional solution to them. Even though the law that called for the referendum defines its national character, in several articles it states that a regime of departamental autonomy will apply immediately after the new Constitution is ratified in those departments where the referendum question was approved by a simple majority of the vote. This dual interpretation with regards to the mandatory nature of the results "at the national or the departamental level "is added to the debate about the nature of the autonomies.The party of the government, whose position won in the referendum and won a majority of the constitutional assembly, sketches a proposal that includes different versions of autonomy "indigenous, regional, provincial, cantonal, communal "that run counter, in some instances, to the departamental autonomies. In sum, the referendum on departamental autonomy, far from solving the problem, has transfered it to the constitutional assembly which puts at risk the democratic legitimacy of its decisions given that the new constitution must answer the demands of diverse political and social actors. Aside from these dynamics, this experience of citizen participation in the decisiom-making process is an example of the positive impact of an institutional reform in the strengthening of the democratic legitimacy and the efficacy of political institutions.