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On 6 December, Venezuelans will go to the polls to elect a new National Assembly at a pivotal moment in the country's history. This election is important not only for Venezuela, but for the rest of Latin America and the Caribbean as well.

Last Sunday, 25 October, elections were held in several Latin American countries. Two presidential elections – first round in Argentina and the runoff election in Guatemala – as well as important local elections in Colombia, the result of which should be understood in light of both the ongoing peace process and the 2018 presidential election. 

Jimmy Morales, the new President of Guatemala, has his work cut out for him as he faces several challenges in need of instant attention.

The results were announced shortly after the second round of elections on October 25 that Jimmy Morales, a popular TV comedian with a degree in business administration and a master’s degree in strategic studies with a focus in security and defence, would take over the reins of this troubled Latin American nation.

La présente étude, fruit d’une collaboration entre le bureau d’IDEA International en Haïti et l’Union européenne, se penche de plus près sur la relation qu’entretiennent les partis politiques haïtiens avec leurs membres élus-es au Parlement, à travers le regard d’éminentes personnalités politiques du pays.

Millions of Haitians hit the polling stations again on Sunday for the first round of the presidential election as well as the second round of the legislative and municipal elections. The election unfolded peacefully and without major incidents.

Una de las preguntas más recurrentes de la investigación política, desde los tiempos de La República, de Platón, y La Política, de Aristóteles, ha sido: «¿Cuál es la mejor forma de gobierno?».

En épocas más recientes, esta inquietud ha vuelto a ser considerada y formulada en el ámbito de la investigación empírica como «¿En qué consiste una buena democracia?» o, mejor aún, «¿Qué es la calidad de la democracia?».

Wrapping up the three-day Global Conference on Money in Politics, International IDEA Secretary-General Yves Leterme highlighted the need to look ahead and take the experiences shared and gained in Mexico to continue the work on the issues involved in money in politics.

Following a four-year suspension, Haiti held the first round of the parliamentary elections on 9 August. Now in preparing for the run-off elections as well as the first round of the presidential and local elections scheduled for 25 October, there are some lessons to be learned to ensure a successful outcome.

All political parties need funding to play their part in the political process, yet the role of money in politics is arguably the biggest threat to democracy today.

International IDEA, partnering with Transparency International and the Government and Public Policies School of Pontificia (Universidad Catolica del Peru), organized an international seminar on the Quality of Democracy in Latin America. The seminar is part of the work the IDEA office in Peru is doing to advance this topic in the Andean region and in Peru particularly, leading to the presidential elections next year.

Much is at stake in the Venezuelan legislative elections. After months of uncertainty, and amidst intense domestic and international pressures, in late June the National Election Board (CNE: Consejo Nacional Electoral) set 6 December as the date for electing the 167 members of the unicameral National Assembly.

On October 25, Argentina will hold presidential and legislative elections that will determine the successor to President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and a reconfiguration of the Congress. Four months remain before the vote; during this time many things can happen. 

International IDEA and the National Board of Elections of Peru are jointly organizing the Seventh Ibero-American Conference on Electoral Justice: “justice, integrity and quality of democracy”, which will be held between July 1-4 in Cuzco, Peru.

“Brazil’s actions to tackle political campaign financing reform, including the proposal to ban donations by private companies, are important in that they bring to the light the importance of a robust system of political finance regulation.”

These remarks were made by International IDEA’s Secretary-General, Mr Yves Leterme, as he delivered the keynote address at the International Seminar on Electoral Financing and Democracy in Brazil, held on 11-12 June.

As often in Mexico critical elections are more common than normal elections. Surprisingly, Sunday’s elections took on an extraordinary importance and meaning for a midterm election in which the presidency is not up for grabs. The exceptional nature of what happened at the polls in Mexico on Sunday has to do with the voters’ movement, with what was at stake in the election and the implications of the outcome.

STOCKHOLM – The President of the Superior Electoral Court, Minister Dias Toffoli, confirmed Brazil´s interest in joining International IDEA at the opening of theInternational Seminar on Electoral Financing and Democracy, taking place in Brasilia on 11-12 June. International IDEA is the sole intergovernmental organization that supports sustainable democracy worldwide.

A crucial election will take place in Mexico this Sunday where a large number of seats on both federal and local level are up for renewal. In addition this election is the first test for the new electoral model, reformed in 2014, and could significantly change the political landscape ahead of the 2018 presidential election. This complex election also comes with a host of issues.

The Tenth World Economic Forum on Latin America, held this year in the Mayan Riviera from 7 – 8 May, was an excellent opportunity to take the pulse of the situation in Latin America and to identify the main trends in the region.