The 2021 La Paz municipal election was held in La Paz, Bolivia on Sunday, 7 March 2021, involving separate contests for mayor and all eleven municipal council seats. Incumbent mayor Luis Revilla was eligible to seek a third term but declined, leaving the mayoralty an open contest. The election was won by former minister of public works Iván Arias of the alliance, who attained a near absolute majority of 49.52 percent against a field of ten other candidates. On the municipal ballot, Somos Pueblo won 48.04 percent of the vote, winning the six seats needed to exercise a simple majority on the municipal council, with the Movement for Socialism taking the remaining five seats. Revilla's party, Sovereignty and Liberty, lost both the mayoralty and all representation on the municipal council, concluding a twenty-year period of political continuity that started in 2000 with the assumption of Juan del Granado.
Originally scheduled to take place in early 2020, this and other subnational elections were delayed by over a year as a result of the country's 2019 political crisis and the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Amid a rapidly shifting political landscape and no popular incumbent on the ballot, over a dozen fronts registered candidates, the most since 2004. For the nationally governing Movement for Socialism, this crowded opposition field—including two popular competing candidates in Waldo Albarracín and Iván Arias—provided an opportunity for the party to win the capital for the first time in its history. However, those prospects quickly faded following Albarracín's withdrawal, a move that established Arias as the clear frontrunner for the duration of the race. This, combined with Arias's active and unique campaign style, allowed him to garner nearly half of the total popular vote, with the remaining fifty percent divided ten ways between the other candidates.
Background and electoral system In the 2015 municipal elections, incumbent mayor Luis Revilla, leading the newly-founded Sovereignty and Liberty (SOL.bo), successfully won reelection to a second term by a margin of 58.09 percent of the popular vote to his closest competitor's 39.28 percent. Since 2000, La Paz had experienced the longest period of political continuity in its history, starting with the two consecutive terms of Juan del Granado, followed by the election of his heir, Revilla, from 2010 to 2015. The mayor's reelection to a second term represented a continuation of that stability. As with other departmental, provincial, and municipal elected officials, Revilla and the municipal council's set term of office was due to expire in mid-2020, completing a five-year mandate started in 2015. However, due to the annulment of the 2019 general election results as an outcome of that year's political crisis, the terms of all subnational authorities were extended until after new national elections had taken place.
The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) issued the call for subnational elections on 10 November 2020, scheduling them to be held on 7 March 2021. Individuals aged 18 by the election date or who had recently changed residency could register to vote between 3 and 17 December. 28 December was set as the deadline for political organizations to register their candidacies. For all 336 autonomous municipal governments, the electoral system has been in continuous use since 2010, involving separate contests for mayor as the executive authority and all seats in the legislative body, known as the municipal council. All mayoralties are elected by a simple majority in a first-past-the-post system. Seats on the municipal council are elected on a separate electoral list, allocated proportionally using the D'Hondt method. As one of the eighteen municipalities with more than 75,000 inhabitants, La Paz counts eleven seats on its municipal council.
Candidates and campaigns
Somos Pueblo An early entry in the mayoral race was Iván "Negro" Arias, the outgoing minister of public works in the government of Jeanine Áñez. A municipalist, Arias had an extensive history in local matters, having been part of the team that drafted the Law of Popular Participation, which paved the way for the direct election of municipal authorities, substantially decentralizing the country. Arias's decision to present his candidacy came as a surprise; he had previously affirmed that he would "surely return" to his private consulting practice. According to sociologist Ricardo Paz, Arias's involvement with the controversial Áñez administration, as well as allegations of corruption and mismanagement within the ministry recently under his tutelage, led many to consider his chances of winning to be slim.
Nonetheless, Arias quickly moved to locate a political organization willing to sponsor his candidacy. By mid-November, despite ongoing talks with other fronts, Arias indicated that he was closest to reaching an agreement with Rafael Quispe. The indigenous leader had been considering three potential contenders on his shortlist of mayoral candidates, including Arias, as well as former vice minister of public security Wilson Santamaría and Quispe's former lawyer, Eduardo León. Ultimately, he went with Arias, with the pair jointly officializing their candidacies for mayor and governor, respectively, on 28 December, facilitated through For the Common Good – Somos Pueblo (PBCSP), an alliance between the newly-established civic group For the Common Good, led by Arias, and Quispe's existing Somos Pueblo party. As both lacked legal registration, PBCSP was sponsored by Suma Escoma, a small local organization, and the Social Democratic Movement, a national party with minimal regional presence.
The eccentricities of Arias's campaign received heavy media attention. The political analyst had previously been notable for his unique way of explaining and exemplifying political issues, employing toys and making allusions to popular culture. The figure of superheroes became a central aspect of his campaign, with Arias leading campaign events followed by supporters dressed as Marvel characters. An action figure and a Facebook page with comics portraying Arias made the rounds on the Internet, with Arias himself distributing chocolates, dubbed "Negro Kisses", at campaign rallies. On political issues, Arias branded himself as a conciliatory figure, seeking to achieve "reconciliation" and "common good" in a city often racked with political instability. He also pledged to reinvigorate the city, improving existing public works while creating new ones. "Being a mayor Attila who comes to burn the Library of Alexandria would be catastrophic," Arias stated while arguing that the city could not continue in "lethargy... as if everything has already been done."
Movement for Socialism
Pre-candidates A total of nine major contenders were declared as pre-candidates for the MAS nomination:
César Dockweiler, manager of Mi Teleférico (2012–2019). Sonia Brito, vice minister of consumer protection (2012–2014), deputy for La Paz C-08 (2015–2020). Remberto Calani, substitute deputy for La Paz C-08 (2015–2020). , vice minister of communication management (2012–2014), ambassador of Bolivia to Venezuela (2018–2019). , La Paz municipal councillor (2010–2014), acting mayor of La Paz (2014–2015). , deputy for La Paz C-11 (2006–2010), La Paz municipal councillor (2010–2014; 2015–2020), vice minister of consumer protection (2020–present). Jesús Vera, candidate for ombudsman in 2016, candidate for deputy for La Paz in 2019. José Antonio Zamora, minister of environment and water (2012–2015). , deputy for La Paz C-06; formerly C-08 (2006–2014; 2015–2018), minister of defense (2018–2019).
Selection process Within the Movement for Socialism (MAS-IPSP), the candidate selection process operates under the framework of pluralism. Local party branches and affiliated social organizations are tasked with selecting pre-candidates, who are then evaluated by the party's leadership. The official nomination is a choice made solely by party leaders, together with allied social organizations. A variety of prominent political leaders sought the nomination, with César Dockweiler, former manager of Mi Teleférico, profiled as an early favorite among party cadres. Conversely, José Antonio Zamora, former minister of environment and water, saw high support among social organizations and trade unions. Another notable contender was , a former member and president of the municipal council. A dissident of the opposition, Rocha was the only candidate with mayoral experience, having been elected acting mayor in late 2014 in the absence of Revilla, who had resigned to seek reelection. Other pre-candidates included , former minister of defense; , MAS party spokesman; Sonia Brito, former deputy; Remberto Calani, former substitute deputy; , vice minister of consumer protection; and Jesús Vera, candidate for deputy in 2019.
On 14 December, MAS leaders officialized Dockweiler as the party's mayoral candidate, a decision corroborated by party president Evo Morales days later. According to Morales, Dockweiler's nomination had near-consensus support among party leaders and social organizations, a notable fact, given ongoing disputes in other regions due to a lack of consensus over the nomination of candidates. Nonetheless, Dockweiler's candidacy was quickly put into question by opposing forces, who conveyed their intention to challenge his legal registration. The controversy arose from the fact that Dockweiler had fled the country in 2019, declaring himself a victim of political persecution by the Áñez administration; he only returned in late 2020. Per registration requirements, candidates seeking to hold office must have been permanent residents of their departments for a period of at least two years immediately prior to the election. Dockweiler rejected this reasoning, arguing that his residence and work had always been in La Paz, stating that residency and temporary stay could not be equated. Ultimately, the TSE opted to authorize his candidacy, citing a Plurinational Constitutional Court (TCP) ruling granting precautionary measures in favor of "asylees and political refugees."
Sovereignty and Liberty Incumbent mayor Luis Revilla was eligible to seek a third term, owing to a TCP ruling that voided Article 168 of the Constitution, thus abolishing term limits for all elected officials. Revilla had been a vocal opponent of this decision, at the time objecting to the fact it allowed then-president Morales to seek a fourth term. By late November 2020, Revilla had confirmed his decision to not seek a second reelection, with an internal primary scheduled for 20 November. According to Departmental Assemblyman Edwin Herrera, the primary process was intended to elect SOL.bo's departmental leader and to define a preferred candidate among the party's partisans. However, the winner would not necessarily receive the nomination, with SOL.bo leaving the door open to nominating a non-party partisan with greater support among the population. Nonetheless, multiple municipal officials presented themselves as pre-candidates for the nomination, among them: Álvaro Blondel, executive secretary of the mayoralty; Álvaro Siles, municipal secretary; Oscar Sogliano, deputy mayor for La Paz's southern zone; and Fernando Valencia, deputy mayor for La Paz's central macrodistrict. Blondel emerged victorious, attaining the votes of two thousand of the more than six thousand participating SOL.bo partisans.