Elections in Brazil: Blank and null votes are the favorite
Disillusioned with the political system because of corruption, more than half of Brazilians will stay home during elections in October.
Disillusioned with the political system because of corruption, more than half of Brazilians will stay home during elections in October.
Reflecting a difficult couple of years for the Americas, the biennial LAPOP survey shows declining support for democracy and growing concern over corruption. But it isn’t all bad news.
Investors are anxious about whether Mexico’s next president will be more like Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez or Brazil’s Lula.
The real danger that has arisen from AMLO’s and MORENA’s landslide victories is not expropriation or authoritarianism, but disillusionment with unfulfilled promises and the persistence of corruption, poverty, and violence.
Instead of voting for a candidate with concrete policy proposals to improve a difficult situation, many Mexican voters seem to ready to say “screw the system—and everything else along with it.”
Gustavo Petro has reasons to be optimistic after his defeat. The left has a new presence in Colombian politics and could emerge stronger for the next elections.
On the day of the Colombian elections, Pedro Pizano reflects on how too often elections are hailed as a watershed moment. But this presidential election really is. Really.
A new report reveals that, on average, illicit finance for a governor’s election is ten times higher than legal funding. Most of that money goes to buying votes and comes at a cost of political favoritism, sometimes to criminal groups.
From refusals to recognize the Venezuelan elections and new sanctions from democracies around the world, to shows of support from like-minded regimes, the international community has started to react to Maduro’s consolidation of power.
While elite fractionalization between President Santos and former President Uribe played a tangible role in the outcome of the 2016 plebiscite and has continued to influence Colombian electoral politics, it also provides a window of opportunity for Fajardo’s centrist candidacy.