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.Political parties of the world. Longman, 1980. P. 28.

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.

Under the dictatorship of President Hugo Banzer Suárez the Christian Democrats fought for human rights, fundamental freedoms and the holding of elections, but its president Benjamín Miguel Harb was exiled in 1974 and its organizing secretary Felix Vargas forced to leave the country shortly afterwards.Political parties of the world. Longman, 1988. P. 66.

The PDC took part in 1978 general elections, running former Defense Minister General René Bernal Escalante, a leader of the right-wing faction which supported the Hugo Banzer Suárez regime.Political handbook of the world 1981. New York, 1981. P. 70. After the 1978 election, René Bernal Escalante split from the PDC and founded the Christian Democratic Union.

For the elections held on 1 July 1979, the party joined the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement-Alliance with four other parties — the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement (MNR), the Authentic Revolutionary Party (PRA), the Marxist Leninist Communist Party (PCML) and the Tupaj Katari Revolutionary Movement (MRTK). The Alliance ran a MNR's leader Víctor Paz Estenssoro as its presidential candidate and a PDC's leader Luis Ossio Sanjines as its vice-presidential candidate.Elections in the Americas : a data handbook / ed. by Dieter Nohlen, Vol. 2. [Oxford] [u.a.]: Oxford Univ. Press, 2005. P.151. 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.

Soon after the restoration of democratic government, in November 1982, Christian Democrats took a seat in the Hernán Siles Zuazo Government, but withdrew from the coalition in October 1984.Political handbook of the world 2005-2006. New York, 2006. P. 126.

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. Although winning no legislative seats as an ally of the Nationalist Democratic Action in May 1989, Luis Ossio Sanjines, was elected vice-president of the Republic as a result of its adherence to the Nationalist Democratic Action – Revolutionary Left Movement pact (Patriotic Agreement) in August. The PDC campaigned as a member of the Patriotic Agreement in 1993 elections. The Christian Democratic Party was one of the founding components of Social and Democratic Power (PODEMOS), for which it provided its electoral registration. Following the 2005 election, this alliance led the parliamentary opposition to President Evo Morales.Political handbook of the world 2008. New York, 2008. P. 138.

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. The electoral results gave the PDC the largest parliamentary bloc, allowing it to form a government.

Election results

Presidential elections ElectionPresidential nomineeVotes%Votes%ResultFirst roundSecond round1978 René Bernal Escalante 167,131 8.63%Lost 1979 Víctor Paz Estenssoro (MNR) 527,184 35.87% 64 44.44%Lost 1980 Luis Adolfo Siles Salinas (OID) 39,401 3.01%Lost 1985 Luis Ossio 24,079 1.60%Lost 1989Hugo Banzer (ADN) 357,298 25.24%Lost 1993 346,865 21.05%Lost 1997 484,705 22.26% 118 79.73%Elected 2002Did not contest2005 Jorge Quiroga (PODEMOS) 821,745 28.59%Lost 2009Did not contest2014 Jorge Quiroga 467,311 9.04%Lost 2019 Chi Hyun Chung 539,081 8.78% Annulled 2020 Luis Fernando Camacho (Creemos) 862,186 14.00%Lost 2025 Rodrigo Paz 1,717,532 32.06% 3,506,458 54.89%Elected

Chamber of Deputies and Senate elections ElectionParty leaderVotes%Chamber seats +/-PositionSenate seats +/-PositionStatus 1958 Benjamín Miguel Harb 2,888 0.66% New 4th New 4th1960Did not contest 0 01962Benjamín Miguel Harb 19,825 1.90% 1 4th 0 2nd 1964 228 0.02% 0 4th 0 2nd 1966Boycotted 1 0 1979Luis Ossio 9 4th 3 3rd 1980 4 5th 3 5th 1985 24,079 1.60% 2 8th 0 4th 1989 3 6th 0 5th 1993 0 9th 0 5th 1997 0 8th 0 6th 2002Did not contest 0 0 2005 43 2nd 13 2nd 2009Did not contest 43 13 2014 Jorge Quiroga 454,233 9.06% 10 3rd 2 3rd 2019 522,582 8.80% 1 3rd 2 4th 2020 7 3rd 4 4th 2025Roberto Castro Peñaranda 1,683,891 32.15% 29 1st 12 1st

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