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On 17 June 2018, during the run-off election, 53.98 per cent of Colombians chose Ivan Duque to be their next President, a pro-market proponent who is also considered a protégé of Alvaro Uribe. Duque was 12 points ahead of his left-wing opponent Gustavo Petro, the former mayor of Bogotá D.C and a former guerrilla member, who received 41.81 per cent of the votes, still a remarkable number in a country where left-wing parties and candidates usually receive a meagre support.

Panama joined the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) on 13 June 2018, bringing the total number of Member States in the intergovernmental organization to 31. The Council of Member States, chaired by Namibia, warmly welcomed the membership of Panama at the council meeting held at International IDEA headquarters in Stockholm.

A strategic partnership between International IDEA, the civil association Presente and the PUCP (Catholic University of Peru) Governance School has developed a dialogue with civil society organizations representing traditionally excluded groups.

On 22 April 2018, Paraguay held its seventh general elections in its history to renew national, local and MERCOSUR authorities, in a context of macro-economic stability, with an average economic growth of 4 per cent, well above its neighboring countries, but with high levels of uncertainty in the political sphere.

Following a preparatory process marked by uncertainty resulting from the political instability in the country, on 13 and 14 April 2018 Peru hosted the Eighth Summit of the Americas.

En vue de renforcer la participation et le leadership des femmes, IDEA International a organisé les premières assises nationales des mairesses d’Haïti.

Grâce à l’implémentation du quota de genre d’au moins 30 % de femmes, tel que prescrit par la Constitution, 143 mairesses ont été élues dans le pays en 2015.

On the eve of International Women's Day (March 8) and that same day, organizations and institutions that work for women's rights throughout the country added their voices to demand enough public budgets against women violence and efficiency in their execution to the national and subnational authorities. Recent data show the urgency of facing this scourge, which at the national level ends with the life of a woman every three days.

After one and a half year of heading a troubled government, Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski stepped down following vote-buying allegations ahead of an impeachment process.

The Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean of International IDEA, Daniel Zovatto, participated in the VI edition of the International Forum of Political Analysis (FIAP) organized by the Salvadoran Foundation for Economic and Social Development (FUSADES), an event that took place on

This report seeks to describe and analyse key features of constitution-building and reform processes in 18 Latin American countries during the period 1978–2012.

As part of its support for the democratic consolidation process in Haiti and the promotion of women's rights, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) supported a workshop of Haitian women’s organizations to discuss constitutional amendments for gender equality on 1 March 2018.

Katia Uriona Gamarra, president of the Electoral Supreme Tribunal (TSE) highlighted the commitment undertaken by the Electoral Body (OEP) to be a guarantor of democracy and stressed that “we are working on the modernization of improvement and quality, so we hope that by the end of this year we can obtain the Electoral ISO”.

Resource wealth brings a unique set of challenges often known as the ‘resource curse’—challenges which political parties with informed and comprehensive policy positions are well positioned to help address.

Political parties have an important role to play in ensuring that natural resources are managed transparently, accountably and in the long-term best interests of their countries.

The Regional Director of International IDEA for Latin America and the Caribbean, Dr Daniel Zovatto, participated in the Elcano debate17: "The intense Latin American electoral cycle (2017-2019): where will the region evolve?", organized by the

International IDEA´s Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Director, Daniel Zovatto, participated in a high-level panel at the World Economic Forum on Latin America, held in Sao Paulo, Brazil from 13-15 March 2018.

The office of International IDEA in Peru started with a project supported by the European Union to provide technical assistance for the political debate on the electoral reform.

Este artículo se encuentra disponible en Castellano.

Political financing (of parties and election campaigns) is crucial for the quality of democracy and the integrity of elections. Democracy has no price, but it does have an operating cost. Accordingly, the use of economic resources is essential for political-electoral competition. Yet, money is a two-edged sword: it is necessary, but it is also problematic.

Bolivia’s presidential elections will be held in 2019 and experts invited by International IDEA concur in asserting that the nation is now experiencing a premature electoral environment.

Este artículo se encuentra disponible en Castellano.

On 13 and 18 February 2018, two major fires ravaged two important public markets in the country's capital, the Hyppolite and Port marketplaces located in downtown Port-au-Prince. The traders have suffered estimated loss of several thousand US dollars while the authorities, who formed an inter-ministerial commission under the leadership of the Ministry for Women's Affairs and Women's Rights to support the victims, have still not presented the official balance of the damages recorded.

Costa Rica, along with Guatemala and El Salvador, is one of the Central American countries with the longest-standing experience of providing for runoff or second-round elections in its legislation.