Anghela Mejía

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Mejía and the second or maternal family name is Montecinos.

Anghela Mejía
Official portrait, 2014
Member of the Chamber of Deputies from Oruro
In office 14 August 2014 – 18 January 2015
Substitute	Williams Torrez
Preceded by	Franz Choque
Succeeded by	Francisco Quispe
Constituency	Party list
Member of the Chamber of Deputies from Oruro
Substitute
In office 25 January 2010 – 14 August 2014
Deputy	Franz Choque
Preceded by	Carmela Pinaya
Succeeded by	Williams Torrez
Constituency	Party list
Personal details
Born	Anghela Mejía Montecinos (1985-08-01) 1 August 1985 (age 39) Oruro, Bolivia
Alma mater	Technical University of Oruro
Occupation	Economist politician

Anghela Mejía Montecinos (born 1 August 1985) is a Bolivian economist and politician who served as a substitute party-list member of the Chamber of Deputies under Franz Choque from Oruro from 2010 to 2014. A youth activist in support of departmental autonomy, she fulfilled the remainder of Choque's term from 2014 to 2015. Barred from contesting local public office in the 2015 regional elections, Mejía sought to return to the Chamber of Deputies in the 2020 elections but was unsuccessful.

Early life and political career

Anghela Mejía was born on 1 August 1985 in Oruro. She studied economics at the Technical University of Oruro. Mejía entered political activity in 2008 as a member of Youth x Bolivia (JxB), an autonomist activist group that lobbied for the recognition of self-rule in the Oruro Department.[1][2] Oruro had been one of five departments that overwhelmingly rejected regional autonomy in a 2006 referendum,[3] but by the time the question was asked again in 2009, over seventy percent of the population voted in support of it.[4]

That year, as part of the alliance between JxB and National Convergence,[5] Mejía was selected to represent the university sector in the Chamber of Deputies.[1] She was elected as a substitute for Franz Choque, with the pair together serving as the only opposition legislators representing Oruro in either legislative chamber.[6] When Choque resigned to seek reelection in mid-2014, Mejía fulfilled the remainder of his term.[7] The following year, the Social Democratic Movement nominated her for a seat in the Oruro Departmental Legislative Assembly.[8] However, her candidacy was disqualified,[9] an issue faced by many legislators from the outgoing Legislative Assembly. In a controversial ruling, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) had barred nearly all outgoing parliamentarians from running for local public office, arguing that their permanent residence in the last two years had been La Paz, the seat of government, and not their respective regions, contravening the Constitution's residency requirements for candidates.[10] Though the TSE opted to exclude substitute legislators from its ruling, reasoning that, on average, they resided more in their constituencies than their full-time counterparts,[11] many—like Mejía—were still disqualified because they had taken their companion's seats, thus counting as titular deputies.[12] Unable to compete in 2015, Mejía sought to return to the Chamber of Deputies in the 2020 elections as a member of the Libre 21 alliance,[13] which sponsored Jorge Quiroga's presidential candidacy. However, in a bid to unite the divided opposition field, Quiroga withdrew his name from the ballot just days before the election, thus disqualifying Libre 21's entire slate of candidates.[14][15]

Electoral history

Electoral history of Anghela Mejía

Year	Office	Party		Alliance		Votes			Result	Ref.
						Total	%	P.
2009	Sub. Deputy		Youth x Bolivia		National Convergence	20,170	8.99%	2nd[a]	Won	[16]
2015	Assemblywoman		Social Democratic Movement	None		Disqualified			Lost	[9]
2020	Sub. Deputy		Independent		Libre 21	Withdrew			Lost	[15]
Source: Plurinational Electoral Organ | Electoral Atlas

References

Notes

1. Presented on an electoral list. The data shown represents the share of the vote the entire party/alliance received in that constituency.

Footnotes

1. Vargas & Villavicencio 2014, p. 228
2. "¿Jóvenes por Bolivia? inician campaña autonómica en Oruro". Agencia de Noticias Fides (in Spanish). La Paz. 4 June 2008. Archived from the original on 11 October 2022. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
3. Staff writer (3 July 2006). Written at La Paz. "Cinco departamentos votan 'No' a las autonomías y cuatro por el 'Sí', según datos parciales a pie de urna". Notimérica (in Spanish). Madrid. Archived from the original on 11 October 2022. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
4. Staff writer (7 December 2009). Written at La Paz. "Los departamentos de La Paz, Cochabamba, Oruro, Potosí y Chuquisaca respaldan su autonomía en referéndum". Notimérica (in Spanish). Madrid. Archived from the original on 11 October 2022. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
5. "Diputada y funcionaria de la Brigada enfrentadas por denuncia de exacción". La Patria (in Spanish). Oruro. 19 July 2011. p. 4. Archived from the original on 11 October 2022. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
6. Romero Ballivián 2018, p. 162
7. "Posesionan a nuevos asambleístas". El Diario (in Spanish). La Paz. 14 August 2014. Archived from the original on 11 October 2022. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
8. "'Demócratas' tienen 24 candidatos a la ALDO". La Patria (in Spanish). Oruro. 3 January 2015. p. 5. Archived from the original on 11 October 2022. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
9. "Candidaturas habilitadas para las Elecciones Subnacionales 2015 | Oruro" (PDF). oep.org.bo (in Spanish). La Paz: Plurinational Electoral Organ. 2015. p. 7. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 December 2021. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
10. Staff writer (29 December 2014). Written at La Paz. "TSE ordena inhabilitar candidatura de legisladores". Opinión (in Spanish). Cochabamba. Agencia de Noticias Fides. Archived from the original on 25 June 2022. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
11. "TSE avala exclusión de legisladores suplentes del veto a elecciones de marzo en medio de anuncios de procesos". La Razón (in Spanish). La Paz. 14 January 2015. Archived from the original on 25 June 2022. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
12. "A diez días de las elecciones continúan las inhabilitaciones de candidatos en Tarija". El País (in Spanish). Tarija. 19 March 2015. Archived from the original on 25 June 2022. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
13. "Candidaturas habilitadas para las Elecciones Generales 2020 | Libre 21" (PDF). oep.gob.bo (in Spanish). La Paz: Plurinational Electoral Organ. 2020. p. 4. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 October 2022. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
14. "Tuto Quiroga se retira de la carrera electoral". Correo del Sur (in Spanish). Sucre. 11 October 2020. Archived from the original on 11 October 2022. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
15. "TSE aclara que votos de Libre 21, Juntos y ADN son computados como nulos". Página Siete (in Spanish). La Paz. 21 October 2020. Archived from the original on 11 October 2022. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
16. "Elecciones Generales 2009 | Atlas Electoral". atlaselectoral.oep.org.bo (in Spanish). La Paz: Plurinational Electoral Organ. Retrieved 5 June 2022.

Bibliography

• Romero Ballivián, Salvador (2018). Quiroga Velasco, Camilo Sergio (ed.). Diccionario Biográfico de Parlamentarios 1979–2019 (in Spanish) (2nd ed.). La Paz: Fundación de Apoyo al Parlamento y la Participación Ciudadana; Fundación Konrad Adenauer. p. 162. ISBN 978-99974-0-021-5. OCLC 1050945993 – via ResearchGate.
• Vargas, María Elena; Villavicencio, Jois, eds. (2014). Primera Asamblea Legislativa Plurinacional de Bolivia, Cámara de Diputados: Diccionario Biográfico, Diputadas y Diputados Titulares y Suplentes 2010–2015 (in Spanish). La Paz: Cámara de Diputados del Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia. p. 228. OCLC 961105285 – via Calaméo.

External links

• Parliamentary profile Office of the Vice President (in Spanish).