However, the President of the TSE Salvador Romero later reported that all winning candidates would take office on 3 May in order to avoid difficulties surrounding differences in term-lengths between municipal and departmental authorities in the 2026 regional elections.

[17] For the nationally governing Movement for Socialism (MAS–IPSP), the subnational elections confronted the party with the challenge of consolidating regional power following the 2019 political crisis.

[21] The situation arose when the popular Mario Cronenbold was replaced as the party's candidate for Governor of Santa Cruz by Morales' former government minister Carlos Romero.

[22][23] Many anti and pro-MAS individuals expressed their discontent at Morales' "dedazo" (Point of a finger appointments of candidates) and younger MAS militants made demands of "renovation" within the party.

[24] The hands-on participation of Morales in the numerous MAS campaigns contrasted with what political analyst Marcelo Arequipa described as the "neutral actor" of President Luis Arce.

Perhaps the greatest example was in El Alto, the historic center of MAS support, where the popular former president of the senate Eva Copa was expelled from the party.

[30][31] The largest was Civic Community (CC) formed in 2018 by former president Carlos Mesa composed and led on a national level by the Revolutionary Left Front (FRI).

Another rising faction was Luis Fernando Camacho's Creemos alliance which despite only being formed in 2020 received third place and won the Santa Cruz Department in that year's general election.

Maintaining their presence were the traditional anti-MAS groups of the Morales era, the Democrat Social Movement (MDS) of Santa Cruz governor Rubén Costas and the National Unity Front (UN) of businessman Samuel Doria Medina.

Alejandro Unzueta, a dentist and political outsider of the Third System Movement, defeated eight opponents, achieving 41.79 percent of the vote, a large enough plurality to circumvent a runoff.

By the date of registration on 28 December, it was found out that Alvaro Barañado had switched parties, leaving UNIDOS and presenting himself as a candidate for the departmental wing of BST, BST-Chuquisaca (BSTC).

While Condori of CST and León of MAS maintained a large lead in polling, the secondary alliances made numerous attempts to consolidate into a single front.

On 19 February, C-A's Rodolfo Payllo met with Balderas of UN, Torres of UNIDOS, and Barañado of BSTC to discuss the formation of a united coalition.

In his first statement as governor-elect, Condori announced his intent to send a letter to outgoing governor Efraín Balderas to initiate a "transparent transition.

[62][63] The early front runner was the indigenous leader Felipe "Mallku" Quispe of Together for the Call of the Peoples (Juntos al Llamado de los Pueblos, J.A.LLALLA.L.P.).

"[69] Running for reelection and polling fourth place nationally was Félix Patzi, the incumbent governor and leader of the Third System Movement (Movimiento Tercer Sistema, MTS).

On 17 February, his party sued Santos Quispe, demanding that he be disqualified from running for governor as he had not yet announced his resignation as an official of the Departmental Health Service.

[75] The announcement received push back from Mayor-elect Eva Copa who accused Quispe of launching a "dirty campaign" to promote the null vote in order to allow Flores to win the election.

"[79] Santos Quispe alleged fraud and claimed irregularities in El Alto, where his own party's candidate Eva Copa won the mayorship of that city by over 10 points.

While Johnny Franklin Vedia of MAS did not reach 50% of the vote, he nevertheless won the election by winning over 40% with a ten point difference over the second place candidate.

Its candidate, former senator Carmen Eva Gonzales, faced criticism for having called for the intervention of the United States in unseating the "dictatorship" of then president Evo Morales.

[94][95] On 10 December 2020, MAS leader Evo Morales proclaimed former Tawa mayor Jhonny Mamani had been elected as the party's candidate for governor on a secret ballot.

However, that decision was overruled and Mamani was registered as the MAS candidate on 28 December, though not before supporters of Chambi blocked access to the Departmental Electoral Tribunal.

[98] On 24 February, Milton Navarro, Minister of Sports of Jeanine Áñez administration and member of Nationalist Democratic Action announced his party's intent to withdraw from the Potosí elections so as to now split the vote between too many candidates.

[99] Despite the stated intention of not splitting the vote, the Departmental Electoral Tribunal of Potosí only made the ADN's withdrawal official on 7 March, the morning of the elections.

As a result of the divided opposition field, Jhonny Mamani won in the first round with 41.16%, winning over 40% with a ten point difference over the second place candidate.

Luis Fernando Camacho Creemos A total of thirty-four political groups and alliances presented candidates for the subnational elections in the Santa Cruz Department.

The popular former mayor of Warnes Mario Cronenbold was initially the favorite to win the party's nomination and enjoyed the personal endorsement of Morales.

[106] However, Morales' support for Cronenbold was lost when he made statements in opposition to prosecuting Creemos leader Luis Fernando Camacho for his actions during the 2019 political crisis.

Though Cronenbold indicated that his party's strength in Yapacaní and San Julián could "add about 6 more points" and close the gap for a runoff, that ultimately did not happen.