Municipal elections were held in Bolivia, on December 5, 1999, in all 311 municipalities across the country. The elections marked a milestone in the continuous deterioration of the political influence of the traditional parties. In 23 municipalities the mayors were elected through direct popular vote, in other municipalities the mayors were elected by the respective municipal council. Contesting parties 18 political parties contested the elections. MIR The Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR) was able to make a minor comeback in these elections, increasing its share of votes to 16% compared to around 9% in the 1993 and 1995 municipal polls. The party emerged as the largest party in 56 municipalities. It achieved its best results in the La Paz and Tarija Departments, winning 24.09% and 24.45% of the votes in respective Department. The weakest region of MIR was the Cochabamba Department, where the party scored 6.92% of the votes. ADN The Nationalist Democratic Action (ADN), the party of then president and former military dictator Hugo Banzer, came third in the polls. It was however able to get 70 mayors elected from its ranks. Notably in municipalities were the mayors were elected by the municipal councils, ADN was able to obtain a high percentage of mayors elected. The foremost stronghold of the party was Pando Department, where the party got 49% of the votes and was able to gain 14 out of 15 mayoral posts. The Left This was the first election contested by Evo Morales' Movement for Socialism (MAS). MAS emerged from the split in the Assembly for the Sovereignty of the Peoples, which had been divided in a factional conflict between Morales and Alejo Veliz. Morales' group obtained the legal registry to compete in the elections by borrowing the registration (and party name) of a falangist splinter faction (MAS-U). Veliz's group decided to contest on the lists of the Communist Party of Bolivia (PCB). Felipe Quispe aligned himself with Veliz's group. In the Cochabamba region the verbal confrontations between the two sides were often tense, the Veliz group launched the slogan "MAS is Unzaguist, falangist, heil heil Hitler". UCS The national vote of the Civic Solidarity Union (UCS) went down from 17.45% nationwide in 1995 to 11.8% in 1999. However, the party was able to consolidate its position in the mayoral election in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, where its candidate Johnny Férnandez was re-elected. CONDEPA At the time of