With Hernán Siles Zuazo of the Democratic and Popular Union the favourite to win the Congressional ballot, the process was disrupted on 17 July by the military coup led by General Luis García Meza Tejada.

On 17 September 1982, during a general strike that brought the country close to civil war, the military decided to step down, to reconvene the National Congress elected in 1980, and to accept its choice of president.

Pereda himself was overthrown by yet another military coup in November, which saw General David Padilla assume the presidency,[5] promising to hold fresh elections in July the following year.

Hernán Siles Zuazo, narrow popular vote winner of the 1979 election, returned with his Democratic and Popular Union (UDP) coalition while the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement-Alliance (MNR-A) once again presented MNR leader Víctor Paz Estenssoro as their candidate with Ñuflo Chávez Ortiz, former vice president to Siles Zuazo, as Paz Estenssoro's running mate.

This was due to the fact that certain congressional members of the MNR, most notably Guillermo Bedregal and José Fellman, had participated in the coup that brought Alberto Natusch to power.

The MNRU joined in alliance with another MNR splinter group, the left-wing Movement of the National Left (MIN), and presented as their candidate Guillermo Bedregal with his running mate Miguel Trigo.

Ominously, the ultra-right wing of the Bolivian military began to indicate that it would not stand for the installation of the "extremist" Siles Zuazo and Paz Zamora.

On 2 June 1980, just 27 days before the scheduled election date, a plane carrying six UDP politicians including Hernán Siles Zuazo's running mate, Jaime Paz Zamora, crashed over the Altiplano.

Two crew men and five UDP politicians died with the only survivor being Paz Zamora who suffered permanent burn scarring on his face.

However, on 17 July a coup led by General Luis García Meza overthrew the interim government of Lidia Gueiler Tejada.

On the day of the coup, Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz of the PS-1 was arrested by the military during an assault on the Bolivian Workers' Center.

[13] The election results were annulled and major political leaders went into exile, including Siles Zuazo who crossed Lake Titicaca and fled to Peru.

Pressure by the United States coupled with internal struggles between separate military factions ultimately resulted in the army forcing García Meza to resign on 4 August 1981.