The Christian Democratic Party (, PDC) is a political party in Bolivia. Historically a Third Way party, it has now been described as a centre-right conservative party that is supportive of capitalism and decentralisation.
History
Founded on 6 February 1954 as the Social Christian Party (, PSC), it assumed its present name at a party congress in November 1964. Its intellectual foundations were study centres of the Church's social doctrine, the Bolivian Catholic Action and "Integral Humanism" (a centre for the study of the philosophy of Jacques Maritain). It remains a conventionally "tercerista" party, calling for a third way between capitalism and socialism – a way that would be more humane and truly democratic than either competing sociopolitical system. It was founded by Remo Di Natale, Benjamín Miguel Harb, Javier Caballero, and Emanuel Andrade.
The Christian Democratic Party took part in the 1958 and 1962 congressional elections, and in 1962 Benjamín Miguel Harb became its first deputy. It boycotted the 1964 and 1966 presidential votes.
In 1967, the party took part in the Government of the president of René Barrientos Ortuño, being given responsibility for the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. This was a major misjudgment by the PDC leadership. When military forces carried out bloody raids against mining camps, the Christian Democratic Party was forced to withdraw in anger and embarrassment, with severe internal divisions resulting. The party's youth organization had been discontented with the third-road philosophy for some time, and the mine camp invasions helped to crystallize their rebellion; they favored revolutionary socialism as a solution to Bolivia's dilemmas. In the late 1960s, the youth wing seceded to form the Revolutionary PDC which later became the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR). Several discontented members of the party, including Jose Luis Roca Garcia, also left to join General Alfredo Ovando Candía's short-lived nationalist revolutionary government in 1969–1970.
The PDC took part in 1978 general elections, running former Defense Minister General René Bernal Escalante, a leader of the right-wing faction of which supported the Hugo Banzer Suárez regime. After the 1978 election, René Bernal Escalante split from the PDC and founded the Christian Democratic Union. In 1979 the Christian Democratic Party won nine seats in the Chamber of Deputies and three in the Senate.
In 1980 the PDC took part in an electoral coalition Democratic Revolutionary Front-New Alternative backing ex-President Luis Adolfo Siles Salinas, which polled few votes; the leader of the PDC Benjamín Miguel Harb ran as vice-presidential candidate.
The PDC took part in 1985 general elections, running Luis Ossio Sanjines as its presidential candidate and Jaime Ponce García as vice-presidential candidate, and won three seats in the Chamber of Deputies.
The party joined Creemos for the 2020 Bolivian general election.
For the 2025 Bolivian general election, the PDC nominated senator from Tarija Rodrigo Paz as its presidential candidate. In a major upset, Paz advanced to the second round of voting, where he defeated former President Jorge Quiroga, becoming Bolivia's first President to belong to the PDC. The party also won 16 seats in the Senate and 49 seats in the Chamber of Deputies.
Election results
Presidential elections
{| class=wikitable style=text-align:center
! rowspan="2" |Election
! rowspan="2" |Presidential nominee
!Votes
!%
!Votes
!%
! rowspan="2" |Result
|-
! colspan="2" |First round
! colspan="2" |Second round
|-
!1978
| René Bernal Escalante
| 167,131
| 8.63%
| colspan=2|
|Lost
|-
!1979
| Víctor Paz Estenssoro (MNR)
| 527,184
| 35.87%
| 64
| 44.44%
|Lost
|-
!1980
| Luis Adolfo Siles Salinas (OID)
| 39,401
| 3.01%
| colspan=2|
|Lost
|-
!1985
| Luis Ossio
| 24,079
| 1.60%
| colspan=2|
|Lost
|-
!1989
| rowspan=3 |Hugo Banzer (ADN)
| 357,298
| 25.24%
| colspan=2|
|Lost
|-
!1993
| 346,865
| 21.05%
| colspan=2|
|Lost
|-
!1997
| 484,705
| 22.26%
| 118
| 79.73%
|Elected
|-
!2002
| colspan=6 |Did not contest
|-
!2005
| Jorge Quiroga (PODEMOS)
| 821,745
| 28.59%
| colspan=2|
|Lost
|-
!2009
| colspan=6 |Did not contest
|-
!2014
| Jorge Quiroga
| 467,311
| 9.04%
| colspan=2|
|Lost
|-
!2019
| Chi Hyun Chung
| 539,081
| 8.78%
| colspan=2|
| Annulled
|-
!2020
| Luis Fernando Camacho (Creemos)
| 862,186
| 14.00%
| colspan=2|
|Lost
|-
!2025
| Rodrigo Paz
| 1,717,532
| 32.06%
| 3,506,458
| 54.89%
|Elected
|}
Chamber of Deputies and Senate elections
{| class=wikitable style=text-align:center
|-
!Election
!Party leader
!Votes
!%
!Chamber seats
! +/-
!Position
!Senate seats
! +/-
!Position
!Status
|-
!1958
| Benjamín Miguel Harb
| 2,888
| 0.66%
|
|New
| 4th
|
|New
| 4th
|
|-
!1960
| colspan=3 |Did not contest
|
| 0
|
|
| 0
|
|
|-
!1962
| rowspan=2 |Benjamín Miguel Harb
| 19,825
| 1.90%
|
| 1
| 4th
|
| 0
| 2nd
|
|-
!1964
| 228
| 0.02%
|
| 0
| 4th
|
| 0
| 2nd
|
|-
!1966
| colspan=3 |Boycotted
|
| 1
|
|
| 0
|
|
|-
!1979
| rowspan=6 |Luis Ossio
| colspan=2 |
|
| 9
| 4th
|
| 3
| 3rd
|
|-
! rowspan=3 |1980
| colspan=2 rowspan=3 |
| rowspan=3 |
| rowspan=3 | 4
| rowspan=3 | 5th
| rowspan=3 |
| rowspan=3 | 3
| rowspan=3 | 5th
|
|-
|
|-
|
|-
!1985
| 24,079
| 1.60%
|
| 2
| 8th
|
| 0
| 4th
|
|-
!1989
| colspan=2 |
|
| 3
| 6th
|
| 0
| 5th
|
|-
!1993
|
| colspan=2 |
|
| 0
| 9th
|
| 0
| 5th
|
|-
!1997
|
| colspan=2 |
|
| 0
| 8th
|
| 0
| 6th
|
|-
!2002
| colspan=3 |Did not contest
|
| 0
|
|
| 0
|
|
|-
!2005
|
| colspan=2 |
|
| 43
| 2nd
|
| 13
| 2nd
|
|-
!2009
| colspan=3 |Did not contest
|
| 43
|
|
| 13
|
|
|-
!2014
| Jorge Quiroga
| 454,233
| 9.06%
|
| 10
| 3rd
|
| 2
| 3rd
|
|-
!2019
| rowspan=2 |
| 522,582
| 8.80%
|
| 1
| 3rd
|
| 2
| 4th
|
|-
!2020
| colspan=2 |
|
| 7
| 3rd
|
| 4
| 4th
|
|-
!2025
| rowspan=1 |Roberto Castro Peñaranda
| 1,683,891
| 32.15%
|
| 29
| 1st
|
| 12
| 1st
|
|}