At the end of October, four important elections occurred in the Western Hemisphere. Argentina and Guatemala held presidential elections; Colombia held local and municipal level elections. (Haiti also had an election, but the result won’t be known for several weeks.) For now, the results in Argentina, Guatemala, and Colombia raise key questions for the United States and the region at large.
Argentina
On Sunday, Oct. 25, Argentines rebuked their country’s socialist political establishment. Current governor of the Buenos Aires (BA) Province and former Vice President Daniel Scioli was expected to win by a landslide against opposition candidate Mauricio Macri. By the time votes were tallied, Macri’s 34.4 percent of the vote precluded any possibility of a first round victory against Scioli’s 36.9 percent. Further solidifying the anti-establishment fervor, Macri’s reformist party mate was elected governor of the BA Province, effectively ending almost three decades of Perónist rule and winning against the current president’s chief of staff.
