It's an insult to democracy": TSE Member presents bill to eliminate primaries

 Tahuichi Tahuichi, a member of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), has introduced a bill to amend Law 1096 on Political Organizations and eliminate primary elections as currently conceived.

Tahuichi argued that primary elections are a costly and senseless expense for the state, resources that could be used for significant projects.

"The holding of primary elections is an aberration, it's an insult to democracy. It's an insult to the intelligence of Bolivians. It is important, it is imperative, that we can work as Bolivian men and women, as political actors, academics (...). In other words, this project seeks to annul primary elections. It makes no sense to go to primary elections with only one candidate; it makes no sense because we are only going to legitimize. We are not going to choose, to compete," stated the TSE member.

The electoral authority specified that his project aims to modify Article 29 of Law 1096 concerning primary elections. Additionally, he highlighted that in the 2019 primary elections, 29 million bolivianos were spent with no valuable results for the internal democracy exercise of the parties.

According to TSE activities, it is planned to launch the call for primary elections in August or September this year, with party members choosing their presidential candidates in December.