Yesenia Yarhui
Headshot of Yesenia Yarhui
Official portrait, 2017
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
from Chuquisaca
In office
18 January 2015 – 3 November 2020
Substitute
  • Luis Fernando Paz
  • Willams Vilar
Preceded byVirginia Ramírez
Succeeded byMarcelo Pedrazas
ConstituencyParty list
Personal details
Born
Yesenia Yarhui Albino

(1995-08-16) 16 August 1995
Sucre, Bolivia
Political partyChristian Democratic (2014–2020)
RelativesTomasa Yarhui (aunt)
Alma materUniversity of San Francisco Xavier (LL.B.)
Occupation
  • Lawyer
  • politician
Signature

Yesenia Yarhui Albino (born 16 August 1995) is a Bolivian lawyer, politician, and former student leader who served as a party-list member of the Chamber of Deputies from Chuquisaca from 2015 to 2020. An activist forged in the student movement, Yarhui entered politics in 2014 as a candidate on the Christian Democratic Party ballot. Elected in that year's general elections, Yarhui was just 19 years old upon her entry into the Chamber of Deputies, making her the youngest parliamentarian in Bolivian history.

Early life

Yesenia Yarhui was born on 16 August 1995 in Sucre. Yarhui's political trajectory began as a member of Chuquisaca's student movement;[1] she served as secretary of conflicts in the Chuquisaca Students' Federation and was a youth representative before the Unified Syndical Confederation of Rural Workers of Bolivia. Yarhui attended the University of San Francisco Xavier, during which time she served as a member of its Faculty of Law's Scientific and Research Society, later graduating with a bachelor of laws and political and social sciences.[2]

Chamber of Deputies

Election

In 2014, Yarhui was invited by the Christian Democratic Party (PDC) to be a candidate for a seat in the Chamber of Deputies in that year's general elections.[3] Yarhui's accession to the party's electoral list had been suggested by her aunt, Tomasa Yarhui, a Quechua peasant leader running as the PDC's vice-presidential candidate. Though the family connection was questioned by critics, Tomasa Yarhui assured that Yesenia's selection was an opportunity for young leaders to participate in politics.[4]

Tenure

Elected at the tail end of 2014, Yarhui assumed office on 18 January 2015.[5] Aged 19 years, 5 months, and 2 days old at the time of her assumption, Yarhui became the youngest parliamentarian in Bolivian history, as well as the youngest legislator in Latin America. Her ability to assume the position was made possible by the passage of the 2009 Constitution, which reduced age requirements to hold office in the Legislative Assembly.[6][7] Yarhui's status as the country's youngest legislator was a central pillar of her tenure in the Chamber of Deputies, one she used to promote the participation of youth and women in politics. In an interview with the nonprofit Women's Coordination Committee, Yarhui outlined the need to do away with the "cultural stigmatization of being young and female" so as to ensure that those groups "can be taken into account as true protagonists in decision-making". Regarding her experience as a legislator, Yarhui recalled facing mistrust from her colleagues, including from within her own caucus, for "supposedly not having the capacity [to legislate]". However, she assured that that difficulty lessened with time, and in 2019, she even attained significant support from some of her colleagues to contest the leadership of the PDC caucus, nearly winning the election.[1][8]

Commission assignments

  • Planning, Economic Policy, and Finance Commission
    • Mining and Metallurgy Committee (2015–2018)[9][10][11]
  • Planning, Economic Policy, and Finance Commission
    • Budget, Tax Policy, and Comptroller's Office Committee (2018–2019)[12]
  • Plural Justice, Prosecutor's Office, and Legal Defense of the State Commission
    • Ordinary Jurisdiction and Magistracy Council Committee (2019–2020)[13]

Later political career

Nearing the end of her service in the Chamber of Deputies, Yarhui expressed an interest in continuing her burgeoning career in politics.[1] Just over a year after leaving office, Yarhui was sworn into the second cabinet of Damián Condori, the governor of Chuquisaca. She was appointed to serve as departmental secretary of culture, tourism, productive development, and employment, a broad-ranging position brought about by the merger of the Secretariat of Productive Development with the Directorate of Culture as a measure of economic austerity.[14][15] She held the post for just one year before being replaced during Condori's annual cabinet reshuffle.[16] She was reassigned as director of the cabinet.[17]

Electoral history

Electoral history of Yesenia Yarhui
Year Office Party Votes Result Ref.
Total  % P.
2014 Deputy Christian Democratic 44,671 17.08% 2nd[lower-greek 1] Won [18]
Source: Plurinational Electoral Organ | Electoral Atlas

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Presented on an electoral list. The data shown represents the share of the vote the entire party/alliance received in that constituency.

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 3 Coordinadora de la Mujer 2020, p. 17.
  2. ↑ Marquez Sánchez 2020, p. 105
  3. ↑ Marquez Sánchez 2020, pp. 106–107
  4. ↑ "Tomasa Yarhui, una candidata obstinada". La Pública (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 31 August 2022. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
  5. ↑ Condori, Betty (18 January 2015). "Parlamentarios electos juran a sus cargos para la nueva legislatura". Opinión (in Spanish). Cochabamba. Archived from the original on 16 January 2022. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  6. ↑ Romero Ballivián 2018, p. 645
  7. ↑ Ariñez, Rubén (13 December 2015). "Legisladores jóvenes ocupan el 8,7% de escaños en la Asamblea". La Razón (in Spanish). La Paz. Archived from the original on 31 August 2022. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
  8. ↑ Torres, Cleidy (20 April 2019). "Labor de legisladoras aún encuentra trabas en la Asamblea Legislativa". El Deber (in Spanish). Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Archived from the original on 6 May 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
  9. ↑ "La Cámara de Diputados conformó sus 12 Comisiones y 37 Comités: Gestión Legislativa 2015–2016". diputados.bo (in Spanish). La Paz: Chamber of Deputies. 29 January 2015. Archived from the original on 17 July 2015. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  10. ↑ Chamber of Deputies [@Diputados_Bol] (27 January 2016). "La Cámara de Diputados conformó sus 12 Comisiones y 37 Comités: Gestión Legislativa 2016–2017" (Tweet) (in Spanish). La Paz. Archived from the original on 23 November 2022. Retrieved 22 November 2022 – via Twitter.
  11. ↑ Chamber of Deputies [@Diputados_Bol] (1 February 2017). "La Cámara de Diputados conformó sus 12 Comisiones y 37 Comités: Gestión Legislativa 2017–2018" (Tweet) (in Spanish). La Paz. Archived from the original on 23 November 2022. Retrieved 22 November 2022 – via Twitter.
  12. ↑ "La Cámara de Diputados conformó sus 12 Comisiones y 37 Comités: Gestión Legislativa 2018–2019". diputados.bo (in Spanish). La Paz: Chamber of Deputies. 1 February 2018. Archived from the original on 14 February 2018. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  13. ↑ "La Cámara de Diputados conformó sus 12 Comisiones y 37 Comités: Gestión Legislativa 2019–2020". diptuados.bo (in Spanish). La Paz: Chamber of Deputies. 24 January 2019. Archived from the original on 28 January 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  14. ↑ "Damián Condori evalúa a su gabinete en pleno". Correo del Sur (in Spanish). Sucre. 3 January 2022. Archived from the original on 3 January 2022. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
  15. ↑ "Damián Condori posesiona al gabinete 2022 de la Gobernación de Chuquisaca". Correo del Sur (in Spanish). Sucre. 3 January 2022. Archived from the original on 20 August 2022. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
  16. ↑ "Condori ratifica a cuatro secretarios y cambia a tres en la Gobernación de Chuquisaca". Correo del Sur (in Spanish). Sucre. 3 January 2023. Archived from the original on 3 January 2023. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  17. ↑ "Damián Condori posesiona a nuevos colaboradores". Correo del Sur (in Spanish). Sucre. 5 January 2023. Archived from the original on 5 January 2023. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  18. ↑ "Elecciones Generales 2014 | Atlas Electoral". atlaselectoral.oep.org.bo (in Spanish). La Paz: Plurinational Electoral Organ. Retrieved 5 June 2022.

Bibliography

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