16 Facts About Shirley Franco

Shirley Franco previously served on the Cochabamba Municipal Council from 2010 to 2014.

Shirley Franco joined the National Unity Front in 2009, with which she unsuccessfully contested a seat in the Chamber of Deputies.

Undeterred, Shirley Franco saw better results in the following year's local elections, winning a seat on the Cochabamba Municipal Council.

In 2014, Shirley Franco returned to national politics and was elected to represent the Democratic Unity coalition in the Chamber of Deputies, becoming one of the youngest parliamentarians in the legislature.

Amid the fragmentation of the opposition caucus in the Legislative Assembly, Shirley Franco defected from National Unity and joined the Social Democratic Movement, which in 2019 nominated her to accompany Oscar Ortiz as his running mate.

Shirley Franco was born on 4 June 1987, the third of four children born to Raul Franco and Libertad Rodriguez, brothers Guido Franco, Esteban Franco, and sister Estefani Franco, a middle-class family from Cochabamba.

Shirley Franco completed her primary and secondary schooling at the city's American Institute before going on the attend the Higher University of San Simon, where she graduated with a bachelor's in political science in 2008.

Shirley Franco belongs to a generation of urban activists who entered politics in opposition to the ruling Movement for Socialism.

Aged 22 at the time of her inauguration, Shirley Franco went on to serve as a municipal councillor for a further four years before resigning in 2014 to make a second attempt at national politics.

Shirley Franco topped UD's electoral list in the Cochabamba Department and was elected to hold the position, becoming one of the youngest members of an opposition caucus characterized by its high number of young female legislators.

Shirley Franco presented three major bills throughout her parliamentary tenure, including two health-related ones, one directed at increasing government attention on persons with diabetes and one focused on procuring new treatments for cervical cancer.

Shirley Franco's bill regulating street harassment went on to be included as part of the government's 2017 reforms to the Penal Code, but the entire legislation was ultimately abrogated due to protests over unrelated sections.

Nonetheless, Shirley Franco later expressed satisfaction for having, at the very least, opened a national debate on the subject.

The relationship between UN and the MDS "ended the first day they took their seats in 2015," and much of Shirley Franco's work had to contend with the unruly and disorderly caucus these internal divisions created.

In early 2019, during UD's annual internal leadership election, Shirley Franco presented her candidacy to head the caucus, challenging UN's pre-selected candidate, Maria Eugenia Calcina.

In Cochabamba, the MDS nominated Shirley Franco to seek a second term in the Chamber of Deputies.