The Constituent Assembly Comes Home

Readers:

Again we bring you a special report related to the Constituent Assembly writing a new Bolivian constitution. In this report our team writes about an important part of this process, the return home of delegates to their constituents to report back and get an earful. This post looks at the return of Assembly delegates to Cochabamba.

Jim Shultz

The Constituent Assembly Comes Home

At the end of July, the 255 representatives to the Constituent Assembly went back to their communities to present the work and proposals they have come up with so far. We attended the presentation in Cochabamba to see what they had to say.

Teatro Adela Zamudio was packed. The line of Cochabambinos still hoping to get in stretched around the block. The audience inside was buzzing. The representatives were on the stage along with the Mayor and a spokesperson for the Governor, Manfred Reyes Villa. Event coordinators were passing out folders with paper to write down questions and a CD with reports from each of the Constituent Assembly’s 21 commissions. Women in the second row were remarking loudly to the moderator that they were still waiting to get their folders. The moderator’s voice boomed through the speakers, assuring the women that there would be enough for everyone, even though the packed theater suggested otherwise.

This was a forum open to the general public, coordinated by a non-partisan civil society group. The organizers emphasized that it was intended to be a neutral space for the public to hear about the work of the Constituent Assembly directly from the representatives.

Thus began the reports from the Assembly's 21 commissions. The results from each commission’s work will be included in the final version of the Constitution. The commissions vary in topic, but can be categorized into four basic groups.

The first set of commissions have to do with the basic formation of the government – its theoretical foundations, the structure of the State, the division of power between the branches of government and between the federal, departmental, and local governments. The second set of commissions are about the Bolivian people and their rights – who is a Bolivian citizen and how you can become one, rights and responsibilities of citizens, education (as a right of all citizens), and social development. The third set deal with development and natural resources– gas and oil, mining and metallurgy, water and energy resources, coca, land and territory, as well as rural and lowland development and economic development and finances of the State. The final set have to do with international relations – borders, security, and national defense.

Throughout the presentations, here are some of the things that struck us about the process:

The sheer number of proposals that each commission received.

During March and April of this year, the representatives held forums and debates across the country, during which any individual or organization could submit proposals or ideas in written or spoken form for the representatives to consider. From the number of proposals each commission received, it is clear that the public did their part. The Economic Development Commission alone, for example, reported that it had received 369 proposed articles from all over the country. Most proposed articles are a few lines to a paragraph or two in length. Each commission, composed of up to three dozen representatives, had to review, debate, and decide on every proposed article.

More consensus than conflict.

As each commission presented its report, we were struck by how much of the new constitution will have been agreed on by consensus. While much of the news here in Bolivia has focused solely on the outbreaks of violence and disagreements, many commissions were able to decide on the majority of the articles by consensus.

The standoff between the representatives on the remaining articles.

When a commission could not decide on an issue by consensus, the Constituent Assembly’s rules allowed for two reports to be written, one from the majority political party and one from the minority party. There will be Settlement Commissions meeting in the coming weeks in hopes of ironing out some of the differences, but if that does not prove successful, both versions will go to the plenary (floor) session for debate. The representatives showed a very strong commitment to their original ideas. It may prove very hard to budge either side from their positions for potential compromises on some of these issues. Some representatives fear that they will have to send two versions of a new Constitution to the Bolivian people to decide by referendum.

The representatives themselves.

The wide variety of backgrounds: there were rural community members, professionals, people representing different generations, point of view, and cultures. As the first representative spoke in Quechua, murmurs went through the audience as grandmothers translated for their daughters. Representatives seemed to speak very frankly to the audience in a way that showed a commitment to honesty and staying connected to their communities.

More inclusive than exclusive of the original dream.

We wrote about the long-standing hope of many Bolivians for the Constituent Assembly in a previous blog. Many of the new articles presented seemed to create legitimate space for a variety of approaches, from traditional decision-making to recognition of local community structure.

The passion expressed in even the most technical changes to the Constitution.

It was impressive to see representatives so deeply interested in the new structure of the State, about the changes they were making to the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial Branches. In each of the representatives’ presentations, one could sense a real hope about the new Constitution and the changes it could bring – from providing more controls and transparency to curb corruption in government to more recognition of the diversity and rights of the peoples that make up this country.

The enthusiasm of the public.

Audience participation was not just limited to applauding. The audience got downright rowdy at times, particularly during the presentation on how corruption would be controlled. The feeling, more often than not, was that long-standing injustices would finally be removed from their lives.

The absences.

The Mayor was up on stage, but the Governor, Manfred Reyes Villa, did not make a personal appearance. The majority of the representatives were from MAS party. All but one of the PODEMOS representatives were absent. Although everyone was invited to the invite—with the hope of creating a balanced view of the commission’s work-- it was clear that not everyone was there.

The commitment to take feedback.

The representatives held forums and took proposals from all over the country before debating the new articles of the Constitution. They not only took four and a half hours to explain the content and answer questions about the new Constitution at the forum, they also made a promise to take the comments and questions they received seriously. They pledged to use them to make final revisions to the new Constitution.

This event was part of the Constituent Assembly’s work aimed at involving representatives’ home constituents. Soon you will hear about our impressions of work being done by the Assembly in Sucre to show the other side of the story.

Written by Leny Olivera, Aldo Orellana, and Lily Whitesell