Revolutionary Nationalist Movement
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The Revolutionary Nationalist Movement (Spanish: Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario) is a political party in Bolivia. After the 2002 elections, it ruled in a coalition with the Movement of the Revolutionary Left, and supplied the president Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada.
The party was founded by Víctor Paz Estenssoro and Hernán Siles Zuazo. They led a revolution in 1952 and ruled the country from 1952 until a military coup in 1964. Siles and Paz Estenssoro split in the 1980s. Siles going on to lead the UDP (Union Democratica Popular) under the MNR-I faction (the left wing of the MNR). Paz Estenssoro maintained control over the bulk of the party, and returned to the presidency from 1985 until 1989.
The party came in first in the 1989 elections (but parliament chose the third-place candidate, Jaime Paz Zamorra). It came in first in 1993, and was chosen by parliament. It placed second in 1997, losing the presidency to the front-runner (Hugo Banzer)
In the elections of 2002, because no candidate could get a majority, the Congress chose the President, and they chose Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, the MNR candidate. In 2003, however, Sánchez de Lozada resigned, and the current President, Carlos Mesa, took over as an independent (he was never a party member) in hopes of promoting national unity in the face of nation-wide protests.
See also: Politics of Bolivia, List of political parties in Bolivia.