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Juan Manuel Santos received 50.9% of the vote and defeated former President Uribe’s candidate, Oscar Ivan Zuluaga, (45%) by over 900,000 votes in Colombia’s second round of the presidential elections on 15 June.

On 1 July 2014, IDEA continued its longstanding and fruitful cooperation with the Electoral Tribunal of Mexico by signing an MoU.

Through the years, various MoUs have been signed with the aim of strengthening electoral justice in Mexico and Latin America in general, with International IDEA´s support and technical expertise.

Through this MoU, it was agreed that the two organizations will continue working and strengthening these lines of work, focusing in particular on:

A Forum on Political Party Cooperation through Dialogue being held in Port au Prince, Haiti on 27–29 June aims to stimulate understanding of the importance of political party dialogue for identifying opportunities and strategies to overcome the challenges facing post-conflict democracies.

On 15 June some 32,975,158 registered voters made their way to 89,391 polling stations across Colombia for the second round of voting to elect president and vice president for the 2014-18 term.

Uruguay’s 1996 constitutional reform included an innovative approachⁱ to electoral matters: all political parties were required to hold open and simultaneous elections to elect their presidential candidates four months before the presidential election. This is obligatory even if there is no competition for the candidacy within a political party.

The 2001 Inter-American Democratic Charter (IADC) was the culmination of a series of efforts to consolidate democracy, and the result of responses and sanctions to address institutional breakdowns in the Americas. Its key feature is the ability to apply sanctions on states that violate democratic norms.

The presidential election in Colombia on 25 May had a surprising outcome. Even though opinion polls forecasted the need for a second round and picked up the stagnating level of support for President Juan Manuel Santos (who seeks a second consecutive term), as well as the recovery of Uribe’s successor, Oscar Ivan Zuluaga, the surprising fact was not Zuluaga’s win over Santos, but the difference between them: 29.25% vs. 25.69%, meaning almost 460,000 votes.

Some 32,975,158 registered electors voted at 89,391 polling stations on 25 May in Colombia to elect the President and Vicepresident for the 2014-18 term.

2.5 million Panamanians put an end to the ruling party’s attempt to remain in officeon 4 May 2014 and reasserted their faith in democracy and in alternation, when they cast their votes to elect the President, a Vice-President, 71 deputies, and the officials for many local and regional positions.

Second round, run off ballots (ballotage), are currently the trend in Latin America: of the seven presidential elections expected this year, a second round is provided for legally in six countries (Panama is the sole exception).

In April 2014, Peru expanded the ‘indigenous quota’ which now provides that at least 15 per cent of candidates on electoral lists for regional and provincial elections in certain areas of the country must be representatives of the original peoples. In the lead up to the decision, International IDEA worked jointly on this issue with the Ministry of Culture and the National Elections Board (Jurado Nacional de Elecciones, JNE).

A second round of voting for the President of Costa Rica

For the second time in Costa Rica’s history the election of the President of the Republic required a second round of voting, since none of the candidates obtained the required minimum of 40% of the votes cast in the first round.

Progress and challenges for women politicians in the region

Women account for over 52 per cent of the total population of Haiti and are very active in the economic and social sectors. Yet their political participation and representation in Parliament is very limited. Only seven of the 144 political parties are headed by women. Women represent less than five per cent of the Haitian parliament, and there are no women at all in the current Senate.

The run off presidential elections in both Costa Rica and El Salvador are going to be fascinating contests as so much uncertainty surrounds the outcome, given that no candidate prevailed in the 2 February first round of elections. Thus, the political environment remains volatile. To win the first round, a candidate had to get 50% of the vote in El Salvador and 40% in Costa Rica.

^{Disclaimer: The views expressed in this analysis are the author’s and should in no way be construed to represent those of International IDEA, its Board and/or Council members.}

On 2 February, none of the presidential candidates in Costa Rica reached the minimum percentage of votes prescribed by legislation to win the election (40%). Therefore, a runoff will be held on 6 April be-tween the two leading candidates: Luis Guillermo Solís with Partido Acción Ciudadana (PAC), receiving 30.95% of the vote, and Johnny Araya, of the incumbent Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN), with 29.59% of the votes.

Election primaries have the capacity to improve the quality of democracy by engaging citizens and political party members more in the political process of candidate selection. On 23 – 24 January, International IDEA, UNDP and the Central Electoral Board (JCE) of the Dominican Republic convened a seminar in Santo Domingo on Election Primaries in Latin America and the Dominican Republic: experiences, balance, and perspectives.

On 2 February 2014, Costa Ricans will cast their votes in elections for the President of the Republic, two vice-presidents, and 57 deputies to the Legislative Assembly (LA).

Around 4.6 million Salvadorans are eligible to cast their votes in the presidential elections on 2 February for the 2014-19 term. The latest opinion surveys indicate that the contest will be close and have to be decided in a runoff –scheduled for 9 March– because none of the candidates will reach the 50% plus one of all valid votes needed to win.