May 1 1950

Comrade Fredo, also known as Colonel Ovando, has announced, as the head of the Grand National Revolutionary Junta, that the time of temporary military tutelage has come to an end, and the Bolivarian Revolution is now sufficiently secure to allow for the holding of Bolivia's first free, fair and democratic election. All previous elections in Bolivia have relied on the votes of a tiny portion of the nation's population, a few hundred thousand, at most, propertied, largely criollo individuals. This election, to be held on Saturday, August 5, will embrace universal suffrage for the first time, with all Bolivian men and women over the age of 18 being able to cast ballots, excepting prisoners and those deemed "anti-democratic" by the state for their support of the ancien regime [a portion of the relatively small old voter pool, and most Bolivian exiles]. Voting is mandatory and not voting will be punished by civil fine.

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The government selected by the elections will be semi-presidential, with a unicameral national assembly and a president, along with a prime minister and cabinet. Comrade Fredo himself is not running for president, though he is running for a seat in the national assembly, as are most of the Grand National Revolutionary Junta under the broad PRBI tent. Running for president under the PRBI is none other than labor hero and present head of Bolivia's universal labor union federation, the COB, Juan Lechin, whose candidacy was announced to wildly enthusiastic crowds of supporters in Potosi. Of course, parties other than the PRBI are free to compete in these elections, including the Revolutionary Left Party, which is presently in coalition with the PRBI, but also right-leaning parties [other than the banned Falangists, who were impacted by the Moscosco Affair]. Comrade Fredo has even lifted restrictions on press censorship and other temporary provisions that could be seen as impugning on the honesty of the electoral process.

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Most significantly, Comrade Fredo has openly invited the most prominent right wing Bolivian exile, Victor Paz Estenssoro, to return to Bolivia to contest these elections under the banner of the MNR, a party that still retains many sympathizers within Bolivia. This move reportedly came as a shock to many of the left-PRBI, who were under the impression they'd have the entire electorate to themselves. The prospect of inviting election observers from abroad has even been floated, to provide extra assurances as to the legitimacy of the new Bolivian regime, though where from remains unclear and given the relative novelty of the idea it seems unlikely it will actually occur.

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