Latin American Governments Move Right, Lose Female Leadership.

AutorGaudin, Andres

Latin America begins a year of high electoral intensity that will draw a new political map in which right-wing governments dominate and no country will have a female president. Election plans move ahead with many of the main political leaders excluded, disqualified due to constitutional reasons, or because of judicial persecution.

Elections in Brazil, Colombia, Paraguay, and Venezuela will put South America center stage, and Mexico's July 1 contest will be notable for its regional importance (SourceMex, Jan. 24, 2018). Leaders will be elected in four Central American and Caribbean countries including Cuba, where a new leader will be elected on April 19 after six decades of revolutionary government with the Castro name at the top of the political structure (NotiCen, Feb. 1, 2018).

Although its election was held last December, Chile will be the next country experiencing a changing of the guard on March 11, when Michelle Bachelet, a progressive president and the last woman to head a Latin American country, turns over the presidency to Sebastian Pinera, a conservative (NotiSur, Jan. 12, 2018).

El Salvador's election is scheduled for March 4. On Feb. 4, Costa Rica, the most solid of Central American democracies, held presidential election that will require a run-off on April 1 (NotiCen, Jan, 25, 2018).

Ex-presidents not allowed to run

In Colombia, neither former President Alvaro Uribe (2002-2010) nor the current head of state, Juan Manuel Santos, can register as a candidate. Constitutionally, only one re-election is allowed and both have already had two consecutive terms. In Venezuela, the former presidential opposition candidate, Henrique Capriles of the Mesa de la Unidad Democratica (MUD), and other leaders whom the Justice Department left outside the game for various reasons will be marginalized. In Brazil, everything indicates that two-time president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (2003-2011) will be ineligible after being found guilty in a corruption case (NotiSur, July 28, 2017). Finally, in Paraguay, former President Fernando Lugo (2008-2012) and the current president Horacio Cartes have both been excluded from the election for constitutional reasons, as in Colombia, and despite the fact that Lugo had not finished his term when he was overthrown by a parliamentary coup (NotiSur, July 13, 2012, and Jan. 19, 2018).

Undoubtedly, most attention will be focused on elections in Brazil and Venezuela. In the first one, scheduled for Oct. 7, polls, as...

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