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MEXICO CITY – The presidential election in Mexico, which has ruined the party that ruled the country for more than 70 years, was the latest in a series of meteoric defeats for parties in Latin America
. Elections in the region have resulted in decisive losses for political parties of all political stripes.
But while corruption, violence, and inequality have been major problems in every country, no ideology or problem explains the rejection of institutional policies. Voters, say analysts, are simply looking for new options, or at least different options.
Some countries, like Mexico, have turned left; others, like Colombia and Chile, right. Often, the movement is in the opposite direction to the party in power, but not always, as was the case in Costa Rica and Ecuador.
What voters seem to have in common is higher expectations and more pressing demands. The Latin American nations, whose middle class has grown over the past two decades, are demanding more from their leaders.
"I just think that there is a tendency to consider Latin America as a left-right divide". Arnson, director of the Latin American program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. "I think the sharpest cleavage is about good governance."
Recent elections in Chile and Colombia, where voters have chosen more conservative candidates to replace Presidents Michelle Bachelet and Juan Manuel Santos, have created a general sense of frustration. 19659008] A similar rejection of the status quo makes the next Brazilian Presidential Contest the most unpredictable and most fragmented in recent history.
López Obrador won a resounding victory on Sunday night with more than 50% of the vote, and his party, Morena, showed a remarkable performance in legislative and legislative elections. The defeat was particularly acute for the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, which finished in third place in the presidential and congressional elections.
López Obrador was able to take advantage of voters' anger at corruption and inequality, which some blamed on market policies that did not raise the income of the vast majority of people.
a technocratic model and they have not responded to social demands, "said Daniel Zovatto, the director for Latin America and the Caribbean of the International Institute for Democracy and Democracy. 39, electoral assistance. "Yesterday was a real earthquake to release this pressure."
The election exalted left-wing leaders of the old guard in the region.
President Evo Morales of Bolivia said in a statement that he was certain that Mr. López Obrador's decisive victory will mark a new page in the history of dignity and sovereignty in Latin America.
Venezuela's autocratic leader, Nicolás Maduro, called the election "a triumph of the truth about lies". But to consider Mr. López Obrador as a standard Latino-American leftist in the mold of Hugo Chávez, the predecessor of Mr. Maduro, or Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the former president of Brazil, may be a misinterpretation of Mr López Obrador. As Mayor of Mexico City in the early 2000s, he worked closely with the private sector and left office with an 80% approval rating. While his policies are focused on social welfare, he promises to respect the market economy.
Daniel Lansberg-Rodríguez, an assistant professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, said the victory of Mr. López Obrador and a repudiation of the status quo.
"It was an indignant election," said Lansberg-Rodríguez. "It was the rejection of a model of government, and López Obrador was able to exploit this outrage in a way that he had failed to do previously by doing this kind: that you had five or six administrations of technocrats educated in the United States who have absolutely failed to stem corruption and improve your life, and here I am here not only to reform this statu but for the sake of breaking it down. "
For some in the region, López Obrador represents a new pragmatic approach. left, which remains anchored in social programs but sees a role for private enterprise in its broader attempt to end poverty. "In some of these electoral processes across the region, we are witnessing the redefinition of left-wing projects." Rafael Rojas, Cuban historian and professor at the CIDE, a University of Mexico City
Indeed, Marta Lagos, director of the survey organization Latinobarómetro, said that it would be a mistake to see the victory of Mr. López Obrador On the contrary, she said, it is a striking illustration of the tumultuous faith that Latin Americans have in democracy, the establishment of parties and institutions.
"In Latin America, democracy has not been consolidated" Ms. Lagos, based in Santiago, Chile. "There is a desperate search for someone who promises to do the right thing, and people elect leaders who show a magic wand."
The latest annual survey of Latinobarómetro, published in October, found that faith in America had dropped to 53% in 2017 from 61% in 2010. The report called for the gradual decline of support for democracy , similar to "diabetes that does not generate alarm, and progresses slowly and gradually over several indicators in various countries".
The number has dropped dramatically in Mexico. In 2017, only 18% of Mexicans polled by Latinobarómetro said they were satisfied with democracy, putting Mexico behind Venezuela, where 22% expressed satisfaction.
This loss of confidence in democracy can be easily perceived through the prism of corruption. by the widespread corruption scandal involving the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht.
The company admitted to paying hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to Latin American officials for lucrative infrastructure contracts. As prosecutors unraveled the ploy, the presidents were forced to resign and even put in jail.
Mexico and Venezuela were notable exceptions. Neither country has sued a single person linked to the Odebrecht corruption scandal – despite evidence suggesting that millions of dollars have been paid to a close associate of Mexican President, Enrique Peña Nieto of the Revolutionary Party institutional
that is the pornography of corruption, "said Mr. Zovatto." Impunity combined with poor growth and unsatisfied demands generates an anti-establishment sentiment. "
A Similar rejection of the status quo makes the Brazilian presidential challenge the most unpredictable and the most broken in decades.
President Michel Temer, whose popularity has rocked in single digits for much of his tenure, has decided not to At the same time, the parties that competed in the presidency in previous years are left without a viable standard-bearer before the October elections. [1] 9659002] This is as well as far-right MP Jair Bolsonaro, considered a few months ago provocative fringe, a very competitive candidate.
While he is at the opposite of the political spectrum of Mr. López Obrador, Mr. Bolsonaro has also jumped into the polls promising to take decisive action to fight against corruption and violence. Like the elected President of Mexico, Mr. Bolsonaro offered few specific policy proposals
Azam Ahmed reported from Mexico City and Ernesto Londoño from Rio de Janeiro. Elisabeth Malkin and Kirk Semple contributed to Mexico's reporting.
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