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 News from Around the Americas | December 2005 
Latin America's Year of Elections
 BBC News
Latin America's political map could find itself being redrawn as 12 of the region's countries prepare for presidential elections between November 2005 and the end of 2006.
One of the key issues - being closely watched by Washington - is whether the recent left-wing trend in the region will continue. And, if it does, what will be the likely nature of any new left-leaning government. Will newly-elected leaders be of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez variety or of the moderate Brazilian President Lula variety?
Also long-awaited elections will decide the fate of three countries currently ruled by interim governments: Bolivia, Ecuador and Haiti.
Click on the map to learn about the prospects and main challenges in each country, and track the changing face of the region as voters go to the polls.
Mexico
Date: 2 July 2006
What is elected: President
Term: 6 years
Current president: Vicente Fox
Situation: The left-leaning former Mexico City mayor, Andres Lopez Obrador, is currently leading the polls. His Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) has to prove that it has appeal outside the capital and beat off challengers from the other two main political forces, the ruling National Action Party (PAN) and the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). The PRI, which ruled Mexico for seven decades until it lost power to Mr Fox, is hoping to return to government.
BBC Latin America analyst James Painter says that Mr Lopez Obrador would be unlikely to follow a radical economic agenda, as the Mexican economy is now so tied to that of the US.Haiti
Date: 8 January 2006 (Run-off: 15 February 2006)
What is elected: President and parliament
Term: 5 years
Current president: Boniface Alexandre (interim)
Situation: An interim government was installed after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was forced into exile in February 2004 and UN peacekeepers were sent to the impoverished Caribbean country. Haiti continues to be plagued by political and criminal violence. The elections were originally due to be held on 13 November, but were delayed a number of times because of organisational difficulties.
Haitian voters will choose from some 35 candidates for president and more than 1,300 for parliament's 130 seats. It is hoped the polls will mark a turning point in the country's fortunes.
The interim government has said it will hand over power on 7 February 2006.Honduras
Date: 27 November 2005
What was elected: President and congress
Term: 4 years
Elected president: Jose Manuel Zelaya
Situation: Ruling-party candidate, Profirio Lobo, from the centre-right National Party admitted defeat 10 days after the election, when final official results were still unavailable. This has cleared the way for Jose Manuel Zelaya, of the centre-right Liberal Party, to become the president. He is due to take office on 27 January.
Poverty and crime - conducted mainly by street gangs known as maras - are the main challenges for the next president. The incumbent, Ricardo Maduro has implemented economic reforms in return for credit from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but Honduran society is still rife with economic inequality.
Hondurans also elected 128 deputies to the single-chamber Congress.Nicaragua
Date: 5 November 2006
What was elected: President and congress
Term: 5 years
Current president: Enrique Bolanos
Situation: US-backed President Bolanos has been increasingly isolated since he led an anti-corruption drive against his predecessor and former ally, Arnoldo Aleman, who has since been convicted of fraud. Mr Bolanos' own Liberal Party turned against him in congress and joined forces with former rivals, the left-wing Sandinistas. Next year's vote is seen as an opportunity to put an end to this pact, which has dominated Nicaraguan politics in recent years.
Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega plans to run for president for the fourth time, while the Liberal Party has yet to nominate a candidate. Observers say that Washington is concerned about the possibility of Mr Ortega returning to power.
The Sandinistas were voted out of office in the 1990 elections, following a 10-year civil war against the US-backed Contras.Costa Rica
Date: 5 February 2006
What was elected: President
Term: 4 years
Current president: Abel Pacheco
Situation: Former President Oscar Arias, who served from 1986 to 1990, is hoping to return to power with his National Liberation Party and end the rule of the Social Christian Unity Party. Recent opinion polls suggest Mr Arias is ahead of independent candidate Otton Solis, of the Citizens' Action Party. Mr Solis wants an end to Costa Rica's traditional two-party system.
The national economy's slowdown, poverty and inefficiencies in the public sector are the focal points of campaigning in the country once dubbed the 'Switzerland of Central America'.Venezuela
Date: Nov/Dec 2006
What was elected: President
Term: 6 years
Current president: Hugo Chavez
Situation: President Chavez, who has survived a coup, protests, strikes and a referendum on his rule, is the subject of both adulation and loathing among his divided electorate. He says he wants to create a new form of socialism and has pursued populist policies. The opposition accuses him of trying to emulate Cuba's communist system. However, it has not managed to unite behind a strong candidate that could challenge him in next year's elections.
Mr Chavez has sought to widen Venezuela's influence in Latin America to counter that of Washington. High oil prices have strengthened Mr Chavez's position as they have helped Venezuela - the world's fifth oil exporter - to grow robustly. He enjoys close ties with Cuba and Iran, which attract US or international disapproval.
BBC Latin America analyst James Painter says President Chavez will be hard to beat if oil prices remain high and the opposition continues to be in disarray.Colombia
Date: May 2006
What was elected: President and congress
Term: 4 years
Current president: Alvaro Uribe
Situation: Conservative President Alvaro Uribe has said he needs four more years in office to implement his tough policies against armed groups and drug-traffickers. He will be very hard to beat, opinion polls suggest.
Mr Uribe, a close ally of Washington in its fight against drugs, has succeeded in putting the main left-wing rebel group, the Farc, on the back foot, which is one of the main reasons for his popularity. But the civil conflict has created a huge social convulsion - there are two million internally displaced people.
Colombians will also elect 199 deputies and 114 senators.Ecuador
Date: October 2006
What is elected: President and congress
Term: 4 years
Current president: Alfredo Palacio (interim)
Situation: Alfredo Palacio's predecessor, Lucio Gutierrez, was ousted by Congress in April 2005 amid violent protests against his rule. He was elected in 2002 on a left-wing, populist platform, promising to tackle social problems. However, in order to finance the country's large foreign debt, he turned to IMF-inspired austerity measures that generated widespread unrest.
Two candidates hope to succeed Mr Palacio, who was Mr Gutierrez vice-president and has no political base. They are socialist Leon Roldos Aguilera, and the mayor of Guayaquil, Jaime Nebot, of the Christian Social Party. According to recent opinion polls, Mr Roldos is slightly ahead.
Analysts say that a government led by him would tend to be leftist in matters of security or politics, but right in terms of economics.Peru
Date: 9 April 2006
What was elected: President
Term: 5 years
Current president: Alejandro Toledo
Situation: Alejandro Toledo took office in 2001, one year after congress dismissed President Alberto Fujimori on grounds of 'moral incapacity'. Mr Toledo's public approval rating has slumped to less than 10% amid street protests, his government's struggle to create jobs and a string of scandals involving ministers, aides and family members. A president of Indian descent, he pledged to fight poverty, but has had to balance calls for more spending on social programmes with international demands for economic prudence.
Among the candidates vying to succeed Alejandro Toledo are conservative Lourdes Flores, former left-wing President Alan Garcia and Valentin Paniagua, who became acting president after Mr Fujimori was ousted.
The situation has been complicated by the arrival of Mr Fujimori in Chile, from where he is hoping to conduct his electoral campaign. Even though he still has significant support among those who remember his tough stance on hyperinflation and Maoist Shinning Path rebels, he is currently trailing behind the three other main candidates.Brazil
Date: 1 October 2006
What was elected: President and congress
Term: 4 years
Current president: Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
Situation: A scandal over campaign funding and bribes for votes in congress has dominated public life in Brazil in recent months. The revelations led to the resignation of the leader of the ruling Workers' Party and several high-level party officials. Although Lula has not been directly implicated, the accusations have damaged his left-wing government's chances of re-election and held up a programme of market-friendly reforms.
The White House sees the Brazilian President as a 'moderate', a potential ally to deter more radical left-wing politicians in Latin America such as Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.
Lula's main rival in next year's elections is the centrist Jose Serra, whom he beat three years ago.Bolivia
Date: 18 December 2005
What is elected: President
Term: 5 years
Current president: Eduardo Rodriguez (interim)
Situation: Supreme Court head Eduardo Rodriguez was sworn in as caretaker president in June 2005, succeeding Carlos Mesa who resigned amid blockades and mass protests demanding the nationalisation of the energy sector. Mr Mesa's term in office had been dogged by conflicting demands from the business sector, indigenous movements and wealthy provinces seeking autonomy.
Even though Bolivia does not have a huge population, the vote is being closely watched as it is one of the countries where a Chavez-style leader could win the elections, says the BBC Latin America analyst James Painter. Currently leading the polls is Evo Morales, a former leader of the coca growers' union, and a close ideological ally of the Venezuelan president.
Mr Morales is against US-backed coca eradication programmes and seeks some form of national control over Bolivia's huge gas reserves - the second largest in the region. He is also an Aymaran Indian in a country which has an indigenous majority but has never had an Indian president.Chile
Date: 11 December 2005
What was elected: President and congress
Term: 4 years
Current president: Ricardo Lagos
Situation: President Lagos will leave office having overseen a strongly-performing economy. He also has removed many of the legal and constitutional vestiges of the Pinochet years. The front runner is Michelle Bachelet from the governing left-leaning alliance known as the Concertacion. If she wins, she would become the first democratically-elected woman president in South America.
A socialist, Ms Bachelet is a single parent with a 12-year-old daughter and two other grown children. She is a surprising candidate, as Chile is usually regarded as being one of the most socially conservative in the region - divorce was only legalised last year.
BBC Latin America analyst James Painter says it is unlikely that Ms Bachelet will change the pro-free market nature of Chile's economy, which is generally viewed as the most successful in South America. |
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