National Unity Front
Political party in Bolivia
title: "National Unity Front" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["2003-establishments-in-bolivia", "political-parties-established-in-2003", "political-parties-in-bolivia", "social-democratic-parties-in-bolivia"] description: "Political party in Bolivia" topic_path: "politics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Unity_Front" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Political party in Bolivia ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox Political party"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | National Unity Front |
| native_name | Frente de Unidad Nacional |
| colorcode | |
| logo | National Unity Front (Bolivia).png |
| logo_size | 150px |
| leader | Samuel Doria Medina |
| split | Revolutionary Left Movement |
| foundation | |
| national | Unity Bloc (since 2024) |
| ideology | {{plainlist |
| *Social democracy<ref name | "la razon"https://www.la-razon.com/politico/2013/07/28/unidad-nacional-el-desafio-de-ser-o-no-un-partido-empresa |
| *Social liberalism<ref name | "la razon"/}} |
| position | Centre to centre-right |
| membership | 75,765 |
| membership_year | 2025 |
| seats1_title | Chamber of Deputies |
| seats1 | |
| seats2_title | Senate |
| seats2 | |
| colors | white, blue, yellow |
| country | Bolivia |
| international | Socialist International |
| :: |
| name = National Unity Front |native_name = Frente de Unidad Nacional |colorcode = |logo = National Unity Front (Bolivia).png |logo_size = 150px |leader = Samuel Doria Medina |split = Revolutionary Left Movement |foundation = | national = Unity Bloc (since 2024) |ideology = {{plainlist|
- Social democracy
- Social liberalism}} |position = Centre to centre-right | membership = 75,765 | membership_year = 2025 |seats1_title = Chamber of Deputies |seats1 = |seats2_title = Senate |seats2 = |colors = white, blue, yellow |headquarters = |country = Bolivia |international=Socialist International The National Unity Front (Spanish: Frente de Unidad Nacional) is a political party in Bolivia. It was founded in late 2003 by Samuel Jorge Doria Medina Auza, who had broken with the Revolutionary Left Movement earlier that year. It has 36 members of the Chamber of Deputies in the Plurinational Legislative Assembly. Despite its substantial share of the urban vote, and 16 former mayors, it does not control any city halls or governorships. The party is closely identified with Doria Medina's cement company Sociedad Boliviana de Cemento (Soboce).
In describing itself, National Unity emphasizes pro-development economic policies and support for democratic governance. Its mission statement calls for "a democratic Bolivia with solidarity, in full development, respectful of human rights, conscious of its diversity, and forging its own destiny". In founding the party, cement magnate Doria Medina called for policies to favor "those entrepreneurs who generate employment and are absent from national decisionmaking". Despite its membership in the generally centre-left Socialist International, the party is usually described as centrist or centre-right in orientation. Its electoral base is the urban middle class.
At the legislative elections in 2005, the party won 7.8% of the popular vote and 8 out of 130 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and one out of 27 seats in the Senate. Its candidate at the presidential elections, Doria Medina, won 7.8% of the popular vote. In the 2009 elections, Medina ran again and won 5.65% of the vote. The party won three seats in the Chamber of Deputies but none in the Senate. As of 2013, Bolivia's Supreme Electoral Tribunal certified a list of 69,844 members, although the party claims to have 120,000 on its rolls.
In the 2010 regional elections, UN formed alliances with Popular Consensus in Cochabamba and Chuquisaca departments (All for Cochabamba (TPC) and We Are All Chuquisaca, respectively), becoming the largest opposition grouping. Running independently, it was the third-largest party in La Paz and Oruro departments. At the municipal level, the party did not win any mayors' races, after gaining control of 16 in 2004. It obtained municipal council representation in La Paz, El Alto, Cochabamba (where candidate Arturo Murillo narrowly failed to win the mayorship but TPC won five of the eleven seats equaling the governing party's share), and Oruro. In El Alto, Soledad Chapetón was narrowly defeated by MAS-IPSP candidate Edgar Patana, while the party won 3 of 11 council seats. As of 2013, Chapetón is the vice president of the party.
In the 2014 general election, the presidential candidate was its party leader Medina, who in this election was the second-most voted with 24.23% and the party won 9 senators and 36 deputies, becoming the main opposition party to Evo Morales' government. In March 2017 National Unity Front was accepted as a member in the Socialist International.
The National Unity Front contested the 2025 Bolivian general election as part of the Unity Bloc.
Election results
Presidential elections
::data[format=table]
| Election | Presidential nominee | Votes | % | Votes | % | Result | First round | Second round | 2005 | 2009 | 2014 | 2019 | 2020 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Samuel Doria Medina | 224,090 | 7.80% | Lost | |||||||||||
| 258,971 | 5.65% | Lost | ||||||||||||
| 1,253,288 | 24.23% | Lost | ||||||||||||
| Supported Carlos Mesa (FRI) | 2,240,920 | 36.51% | Lost | |||||||||||
| Did not contest | ||||||||||||||
| Samuel Doria Medina | 1,054,568 | 19.69% | Lost | |||||||||||
| :: |
Chamber of Deputies and Senate elections
::data[format=table]
| Election | Party leader | Votes | % | Chamber seats | +/- | Position | Senate seats | +/- | Position | Status | 2005 | 2009 | 2014 | 2019 | 2020 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Samuel Doria Medina | 224,090 | 7.80% | New | 3rd | New | 3rd | ||||||||||
| 255,299 | 5.72% | 5 | 3rd | 1 | 3rd | |||||||||||
| As part of UD | 29 | 2nd | 9 | 2nd | ||||||||||||
| Did not contest | 32 | 9 | ||||||||||||||
| Did not contest | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| Samuel Doria Medina | As part of Unity | 27 | 3rd | 7 | 3rd | |||||||||||
| :: |
References
References
- https://www.la-razon.com/politico/2013/07/28/unidad-nacional-el-desafio-de-ser-o-no-un-partido-empresa
- https://www.brujuladigital.net/politica/doria-medina-senala-que-desde-la-is-crearan-redes-de-intercambio-y-lucharan-por-la-democracia-y-libertad
- https://www.noticiasfides.com/democracia/samuel-doria-medina-rumbo-a-las-elecciones-2025-el-pais-necesita-un-capitalismo-con-rostro-humano
- Nugent, Ciara. (2019-11-15). "Bolivia's Evo Morales Was Brought Down With the Help of an Obscure Conservative With a Bible".
- Cyr, Jennifer. 2017. “The Difficulties of Survival and Revival in a Hyper-Fluid Party System: Bolivia after 2005.” In ''The Fates of Political Parties: Institutional Crisis, Continuity, and Change in Latin America'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. chapter, 176–200. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/fates-of-political-parties/difficulties-of-survival-and-revival-in-a-hyperfluid-party-system/C9089C7423BAFB4BA3F4B4752FD2FFA6.
- Bonifaz Moreno, Gustavo; Faguet, Jean-Paul (2022) : Political cleavages in motion: Bolivia in 2021, Working Paper Series, No. 22-207, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Department of International Development, London. https://hdl.handle.net/10419/284263.
- Pineo, Ronn. (September 2014). "The Resilience of the Latin American Right". JHU Press.
- https://eju.tv/2025/02/ranking-que-partido-tiene-mas-militantes-en-bolivia/
- "Full list of member parties and organisations". Socialist International.
- Lansford, Tom. (2012). "Political Handbook of the World 2012". SAGE.
- (2013-07-28). "Unidad Nacional, el desafío de ser o no un partido-empresa". La Razón.
- Unidad Nacional. "Organización".
- (2009-12-07). "Bolivia: Opposition acknowledges Evo Morales' victory". M24 Digital.
- Bustillos Zamorano, Iván. (2013-11-17). "Democracia interna en los partidos, la cuenta pendiente". La Razón.
- (2010-05-16). "MAS ganó en 231 alcaldías". Los Tiempos.
- (2010-04-06). "MAS gana alcaldía de Cochabamba y Baldivieso tiene el voto de oro". Los Tiempos.
- Corte Nacional Electoral, [http://www.cne.org.bo/centro_doc/prensa_virtual/gestion2010/EDM/Acta_computo_nacional_Elecciones_Departamentales_y_Municipales_2010.pdf Acto de Computo Nacional] {{webarchive. link. (16 July 2011)
- (2–4 March 2017). "Resolutions and Decisions of the XXV Congress of the Socialist International".
- (2025-04-18). "Samuel Doria Medina inscribe la alianza ’Unidad’ ante el TSE".
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