Turning tides A guide to Latin America's busy 2018 election year - A report by The Economist Intelligence Unit

 
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Turning tides
A guide to Latin America’s busy 2018 election year
A report by The Economist Intelligence Unit
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Turning tides
                                                 A guide to Latin America’s busy 2018 election year

Contents

Executive summary                                                                               2

Chile: It’s the economy, stupid                                                                 4

Honduras: Electoral disputes and social woes                                                    5

Costa Rica: Divided we stand                                                                    6

Cuba: So long, farewell                                                                         7

Colombia: The usual suspects                                                                    8

Paraguay: Plus ça change                                                                        9

Mexico: Third time lucky?                                                                      10

Brazil: Draining the swamp                                                                     11

Venezuela: Stumbling towards chaos                                                             12

© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2017                                                        1
Turning tides
    A guide to Latin America’s busy 2018 election year

    Executive summary

    L   atin America’s 2018 election season is an extremely busy one—and a vitally important one too.
        All but one of Latin America’s top five economies will elect a new president in the next 12 months.
    They will do so in an environment of increasing public anger over corruption, amid a plethora of
    corruption scandals across the region in recent years.
        In this environment, the political tide may well be turning. Disillusionment with the traditional
    political class is growing; the leaders of Latin America’s big economies are for the most part extremely
    unpopular (see below). All this creates opportunities for political outsiders—and populists on the
    right and the left of the political spectrum—to tap into anti-establishment sentiment and spring
    surprises in the 2018 polls. In Brazil, for example, Jair Bolsonaro, a right-wing former army officer,
    has started to climb in the opinion polls. In Mexico, the leftist, populist Andrés Manuel López Obrador
    is a front-runner.

    Latin America's unpopularity contest
    (Approval ratings, %)
    50                                                                                                                        50
    45                                                                                                                        45
    40                                                                                                                        40
    35                                                                                                                        35
    30                                                                                                                        30
    25                                                                                                                        25
    20                                                                                                                        20
    15                                                                                                                        15
    10                                                                                                                        10
    5                                                                                                                          5
    0                                                                                                                          0
         Macri (Argentina)   Bachelet (Chile)   Santos (Colombia) Maduro (Venezuela) Pena Nieto (Mexico)    Temer (Brazil)
    Source: Press reports.

       More established names are jumping on the anti-establishment bandwagon. Mexico’s Margarita
    Zavala has left the centre-right Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) to run as an independent, and in
    Colombia a myriad of familiar faces have registered new political movements in time for the 2018
    race.
       At stake is the region’s recent shift away from populism and towards a more fiscally responsible,
    pro-globalisation stance that governments in the likes of Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Chile, Mexico
    and Brazil hope will bring more sustainable long-term growth (and better progress in reducing
    poverty) in a region emerging only slowly from a deep downturn in 2015-16. As the regional recovery

2                                                                                 © The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2017
Turning tides
                                                                                A guide to Latin America’s busy 2018 election year

gathers steam in 2018, the benefits of such policies may become clearer. Even so, the 2018 election
season could prove a bumpy ride.
   In this report The Economist Intelligence Unit provides a short guide to all the election races
in Latin America in the rest of this year and in 2018, starting with Chile’s November 2017 general
election and ending with the presidential poll due in Venezuela in December 2018 (but unlikely to
happen then). The guide provides just a snapshot of the in-depth political and economic analysis
included in our Latin America Country Reports.
   The Economist Intelligence Unit produces Country Reports for 35 countries in Latin America and
the Caribbean. In an uncertain election period the information provided in these reports will be
vital for companies to understand the risks and opportunities presented by Latin America in the
coming year.

Election timeline

         Chile, second-round                                                                       Colombia, first-round             Mexico, general
         presidential election, if needed                                                          presidential election             election
                                                                                                                                                              Venezuela,
                                                                    Costa Rica, second-round                                                                 presidential
 19 November                                                        presidential election, if needed           Colombia, second-round                  election, unlikely
 Chile, general                               Costa Rica                                                       presidential election, if                    to be held as
 election                                     general election                                                 needed                                          scheduled

  Nov-17        17-Dec-17         Feb-18      4-Feb-18      11-Mar-18      1-Apr-18      11-Apr-18     27-May-18       17-Jun-18      1-Jul-18    Oct-18         Dec-18

                                     Cuba                    Colombia                     Paraguay
 26 November                                                                                                                                      28 October
                                     presidential            legislative                  general
 Honduras,                                                                                                                                        Brazil, second-round
                                     election                election                     election
 general election                                                                                                                                 presidential election, if
                                                                                                                                                  needed

                                                                                                                                                   7 October
                                                                                                                                                   Brazil, general
Source: The Economist Intelligence Unit.
                                                                                                                                                   election

© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2017                                                                                                                                3
Turning tides
    A guide to Latin America’s busy 2018 election year

    Chile: It’s the economy, stupid
    November 19th 2017 (first-round presidential election), December 17th (second round)

    Chile will kick off Latin America’s election season with a race pitting a businessman and former
    president (2010-14), Sebastián Piñera, from the centre-right Chile Vamos coalition, against a plethora
    of candidates on the left and centre-left. The most important of these are two TV journalists-turned-
    politicians: Alejandro Guillier, who has the backing of the majority of the ruling centre-left Nueva
    Mayoria coalition, and Beatriz Sánchez, who will represent the newly formed left-wing Frente Amplio
    coalition.
       Mr Piñera consistently receives support of around 40% in opinion polls, compared with 25% for
    Mr Guillier and around 15% for Ms Sánchez. Although we would expect a second round to be more
    competitive, polling consistently gives Mr Piñera the edge in a run-off against any likely competitor.
       The race is thus Mr Piñera’s to lose. His message of restoring dynamism to the national economy
    resonates with Chileans, who will this year experience their fourth year of weak growth (averaging just
    1.8% in 2014-17). Voters have tired of the haphazard structural reform agenda implemented by the
    administration of the current president, Michelle Bachelet, which voters blame for having exacerbated
    the economic slowdown.
       Voters have also tired of a string of corruption scandals among the political and entrepreneurial
    class (Mr Piñera has not been immune from allegations), which has led many voters to support an
    outsider candidate such as Mr Guillier over more established figures. But in this race it looks as if the
    state of the economy will be the deciding factor.
       Regardless of who wins, there are already signs that the Chilean economy is turning around, and Ms
    Bachelet’s successor should assume office in March 2018 against a sunnier economic backdrop.

    Opinion polls over time
    (% first-round support among likely voters)              Sebastián Piñera       Alejandro Guillier        Beatriz Sánchez
    50                                                                                                                     50
    45                                                                                                                     45
    40                                                                                                                     40
    35                                                                                                                     35
    30                                                                                                                     30
    25                                                                                                                     25
    20                                                                                                                     20
    15                                                                                                                     15
    10                                                                                                                     10
    5                                                                                                                       5
    0                                                                                                                       0
         07-Jul 14-Jul 21-Jul 28-Jul 04-Aug 11-Aug 18-Aug 25-Aug 01-Sep 08-Sep 15-Sep 22-Sep 27-Sep 06-Oct 13-Oct 20-Oct
    Source: The Economist Intelligence Unit.

4                                                                               © The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2017
Turning tides
                                                                                 A guide to Latin America’s busy 2018 election year

Honduras: Electoral disputes and social woes
November 26th 2017 (presidential and legislative)

Barring a last-minute shock the incumbent president, Juan Orlando Hernández of the centre-right
Partido Nacional (PN), is on the path to re-election. Should he win, however, Mr Hernández’s victory
will be highly controversial and, according to his opponents, legally dubious. His ability to run is
based on a Supreme Court ruling from 2015, which suspended a constitutional ban on consecutive
presidential re-election. The ruling—and the president’s decision to stand again—has stoked political
polarisation that will persist beyond the election.
    Opposition parties may even challenge the legitimacy of the results on constitutional grounds. For
now, three opposition parties have formed an electoral alliance, the so-called Alianza Opositora contra
la Dictadura, to try to challenge Mr Hernández in the election. They have picked Salvador Nasralla, a TV
presenter and political newcomer, as their candidate.
    But Mr Hernández has the advantage. On top of the benefits of incumbency he can lay claim to
a well-performing economy, a declining (albeit still very high) murder rate and social programmes
introduced by his administration. According to a CID-Gallup poll published in September, he has 37%
voter support, against 22% for Mr Nasralla and 17% for Luis Zelaya of the centrist Partido Liberal.
    Post-election, policymaking will not be smooth sailing. The legislature is fragmented, and the PN
is unlikely to have a majority after the November legislative poll. This will affect the government’s
ability to address some of the most pressing issues facing Honduras, including widespread poverty,
corruption and high levels of criminality. Reforms in some of these areas are under way, but major
additional advances could be stymied in an environment of political divisiveness and tensions.
Comparative poverty and murder rates
(Select countries)
                                           % of population at national poverty lines (a)      Murder rate, per 100,000 population, 2012
100                                                                                                                                 100

80                                                                                                                                  80

60                                                                                                                                  60

40                                                                                                                                  40

20                                                                                                                                  20

0                                                                                                                                    0
     Honduras Guatemala        Mexico       Bolivia   El Salvador Nicaragua Ecuador        Panama     Peru     Costa Rica   Chile
(a) Latest year available.
Source: The Economist Intelligence Unit.

© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2017                                                                                            5
Turning tides
    A guide to Latin America’s busy 2018 election year

    Costa Rica: Divided we stand
    February 4th 2018 (presidential and legislative); second-round presidential election April 1st

    Costa Rica is grappling with a period of deep political change, which has seen the decline of traditional
    political parties and the increasing fragmentation of Congress. With this process set to continue in
    the run-up to the 2018 polls and with political reverberations from the recent “cementazo” corruption
    scandal still likely, there is plenty of room for surprise in the presidential election.
       A pluralistic electorate comprised largely of non-affiliated voters will make it difficult for any party
    to surpass the threshold of 40% of the vote needed to avoid a second-round run-off in April. This has
    implications for the electoral calculus: although Antonio Álvarez of the centrist Partido Liberación
    Nacional (PLN) will lead in the first round, reflecting the strength of the PLN party machine, whoever
    faces Mr Álvarez in the run-off will benefit from widespread anti-PLN sentiment, probably scuppering
    the party’s chances of returning to power in 2018.
       Whichever party comes second in the first round—the ruling Partido Acción Ciudadana (PAC) or the
    centre-right Partido Unidad Social Cristiana (PUSC)—therefore stands a good chance of taking the
    presidency. The PAC’s candidate, Carlos Alvarado, will receive broad support from left and centre-left
    voters but will also have to grapple with criticism of the party after its first ever term in government.
    Meanwhile, Rodolfo Piza of the PUSC, if uninspiring at times, exudes a centrist conciliatory tone similar
    to that of Guillermo Solís when he won the presidency in 2014, which sits well with the centrist Costa
    Rican electorate.
       Whoever assumes the presidency will have been dealt a tricky hand in the form of a large public debt,
    a creaking infrastructure and rising criminality. With a divided Congress and wounded public trust in
    institutions, the only way to pass much-needed reforms will be through political consensus. But that
    has proved elusive for several years now.

    Declining support for traditional parties
         Vote share of traditional parties (PLN & PUSC) as a percentage oftotal valid votes                        Abstention rate;
         (first round, presidential election); left scale                                                               right scale
    100                                                                                                                               40

    80                                                                                                                                35

    60                                                                                                                                30

    40                                                                                                                                25

    20                                                                                                                                20

    0                                                                                                                                 15
             1978         1982          1986      1990         1994        1998        2002        2006       2010        2014
    Source: The Economist Intelligence Unit.

6                                                                                         © The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2017
Turning tides
                                                                  A guide to Latin America’s busy 2018 election year

Cuba: So long, farewell
February 2018 (TBC; presidential)

Finding Cuba in a guide to Latin American elections may seem counterintuitive. But Cuba will begin an
election process on November 26th 2017 that will culminate in the handover of power from Raúl Castro
to his successor in February 2018—the first time in almost 60 years that Cuba will not be ruled by a
member of the Castro family.
   In November 2017 Cubans will go to the polls to elect municipal representatives. Municipal elections
are the only direct elections in Cuba, but they begin the process that ultimately culminates in the
election of the 612 members of the National Assembly; the National Assembly in turn elects the
president. The presidential handover is expected to occur next February, but this could be delayed
because the municipal elections have been pushed back by a month in the aftermath of Hurricane
Irma, which hit in September.
   The most likely successor to Raúl Castro is his first vice president, Miguel Díaz-Canel. Although there
was initial optimism that Mr Díaz-Canel might be more reform-minded than his predecessor, several
leaked recordings have shown him towing the party line. What’s more, his room for manoeuvre will be
limited, given likely opposition from Communist Party hardliners and the fact that his former boss will
remain the head of the Communist Party of Cuba and probably also of the armed forces.
   The transition happens as Cuba faces difficult headwinds resulting from a continued decline
in Venezuelan largesse; a rollback of the rapprochement with the US initiated by the previous US
president, Barack Obama; and the challenge of reconstruction post-Irma. The liberalisation of
economy policy has stalled, and bold but necessary economic moves—such as the unification of the
dual exchange-rate system—are unlikely to be undertaken before the leadership transition is firmly
entrenched. We should expect more continuity than disruption in the short term. There is no “Cuban
Spring” on the horizon.

The path to political transition

    1    Municipal elections (November
         26th; run-off December 3rd)
   Cuba's only direct elections (held every 2.5
                                                    2       Provincial and national
                                                            elections (TBD)
                                                    Elections are held every five years for the
                                                                                                        3     Presidential elections (TBD,
                                                                                                              assumed February 2018)
                                                                                                        The president is elected by the612 members of
   years) are for the 12,589 municipal council      612-seat National Assembly of People's Power,       the National Assembly. In 2011, the current
   members. These delegates are most account-       and were last held in February 2013.                president, Raúl Castro, limited Cuban
   able to the general public and address local     Candidates are nominated by municipal               presidents to two five-year terms. Mr Castro's
   concerns. Elections are apolitical; candidates   assemblies from lists compiled by municipal,        second term will end in February, when he is
   need only be nominated to stand; at least two    provincial and national candidacy commis-           expected to hand over power to a younger
   and up to eight candidates must compete for a    sions, with input from "mass organisations"         leader. Nevertheless, Mr Castro will retain the
   seat. Municipal councilmembers, once elected,    controlled by the Cuban state. Only one             president's traditional responsibilities as head
   nominate candidates to stand at the provincial   candidate appears on each voter's ballot            of the ruling Partido Comunista de Cuba, as
   and national level.                              paper, whom voters can either accept or reject.     well as probably of the armed forces, which will
                                                    Although nominally the National Assembly is         limit the next president's true power.
                                                    the "supreme organ of state power" according
                                                    to the Cuban constitution, in reality the body is
                                                    no more than a rubber-stamp parliament.

© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2017                                                                                                             7
Turning tides
                            A guide to Latin America’s busy 2018 election year

                            Colombia: The usual suspects
                            March 11th 2018 (legislative), May 27th (presidential; first round), June 17th (presidential;
                            second round)

Evolution of voter perceptions, selected areas                                           In Colombia’s 2018 election season new political
(Net improvement/deterioration in current situation; percentage points)                  movements are in vogue. With the prestige
20                 Economy                        40                   Guerrilla         of the traditional political parties plunging,
10                                                                                       “independent political movements”—featuring
0                                                 20
-10
                                                                                         some very familiar faces—have been created on
                                                  0
-20                                                                                      the left and the right to try to capture votes from
-30                                               -20                                    an increasingly discontented, anti-establishment
-40
-50                                               -40                                    electorate.
-60                                               -60                                       One of these familiar faces is that of Sergio
-70                                                                                      Fajardo, the centre-left former mayor of Medellín,
-80                                               -80
      Sep Jul Jul Jul Jul Jul Jul Jul                  Sep Jul Jul Jul Jul Jul Jul Jul   although he has teamed up with some more
     2010 11 12 13 14 15 16 17                        2010 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
                                                                                         established political parties, including Partido
-20                 Safety                        -10                 Corruption         Verde (led by Claudia López) and Polo (led by
-30                                               -20                                    Jorge Robledo), in a centre-left electoral alliance
-40                                               -30                                    called Coalición Colombia. It is still unclear
                                                  -40                                    whether Mr Fajardo or Ms López will actually run
-50
                                                  -50
-60                                                                                      in May, but the coalition’s platform of support
                                                  -60
-70                                                                                      for the historic 2016 peace deal with the FARC
                                                  -70
-80
                                                                                         guerrillas, combined with a commitment to
                                                  -80
                                                                                         fighting corruption, will sway large swathes of
-90                                               -90
      Sep Jul Jul Jul Jul Jul Jul Jul                  Sep Jul Jul Jul Jul Jul Jul Jul   voters, and Coalición Colombia seems likely to
     2010 11 12 13 14 15 16 17                        2010 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
Source: Gallup.
                                                                                         make it to the second round.
                                                                                            There the coalition is likely to come up against
                                Germán Vargas Lleras, the centre-right former vice president to the current president, Juan Manuel
                                Santos, who has also launched a new political movement. Mr Vargas Lleras can count on a strong
                                electoral machinery and has clearer security and economic credentials than the opposition.
                                    With the FARC deal remaining a divisive topic, Mr Vargas Lleras’s ambivalent stance towards the
                                peace accord will also appeal to many voters on the right. The conditions of special peace courts that
                                will judge crimes committed by the guerrillas, as well as the FARC’s formal entrance into politics, will be
                                a matter of substantial debate during the campaign.
                                    Whoever wins will inherit a long to-do list related to the implementation of the peace accord. But
                                opinion polls show that other concerns predominate, including corruption, security and the state of
                                the economy, and these will also need to be addressed. None of the candidates appears likely to offer
                                complete reassurance in all of these areas.

8                                                                                                  © The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2017
Turning tides
                                                                    A guide to Latin America’s busy 2018 election year

Paraguay: Plus ça change
April 22nd 2018 (presidential and legislative)

Paraguay’s long election season (all parties are to Political control of Paraguay, by department
hold primaries on December 17th) will culminate
in a contest between the feuding Partido Colorado           BOLIVIA
(PC) and a broad, if unstable, opposition alliance
composed of the centre-left Partido Liberal Radical                                             Alto Paraguay
Auténtico (PLRA) and the left-wing Frente Guasú                                                                                     BRAZIL
(FG) in April 2018. The campaign will focus on the
                                                                             Boquerón
legacy of the president, Horacio Cartes, whose push
to modernise the public sector and the country’s
infrastructure while seeking foreign investment                                                                            Amambay
                                                                                                                   Concepción
and finance has proven controversial within the
                                                                                              Presidente Hayes
PC and beyond. Secondary topics will include
charges of clientelism and corruption against the                                                       PARAGUAY
                                                                                                                      San Pedro     Canindeyú
PC, the spread of organised crime and the (weak)
insurgency of the Ejército del Pueblo Paraguayo                     ARGENTINA
                                                                                                       Asunción Cordillera Caaguazú
(the Paraguayan People’s Army, a Marxist rebel
                                                                                              Departamento Central                      Alto
group).                                                                                                                   Guairá       Paraná
                                                                                                               Paraguarí    Caazapá
   Mr Cartes’s failed attempt at extending
                                                           Party in power (governor)
presidential term limits, which culminated in the             Partido Colorado                                   Misiones       Itapúa
death of a PLRA militant and the burning of part              Partido Liberal Radical Auténtico           Ñeembucú
                                                              Partido Revolucionario Febrerista
of the congressional building earlier in 2017, has            Frente Guasú
widened divisions within the PC and resulted in                                                                  ARGENTINA                    BRAZIL
a bitter primary race between Santiago Peña, a
protégé of Mr Cartes, and Mario Abdo, a traditionalist senator. Despite the virulence of the campaign,
in April the victor is likely to enjoy the full support of the PC’s widespread get-out-the-vote operation,
itself buttressed by the party’s strong territorial presence and history of electorally motivated public
spending (see figure). The PLRA president, Efraín Alegre, is the front-runner to head the PLRA-FG
ticket. Although the PLRA-FG campaign will be buttressed by the support of the FG’s leader and former
president, Fernando Lugo (2008-12), and that of Mario Ferreiro, the popular mayor of Asunción, the
PC’s formidable electoral machine gives its candidate a clear edge.
   Whoever wins will have to contend with the economy’s over-reliance on agriculture, high poverty
and substandard infrastructure, coupled with the growing demands of a middle class that has proven
receptive to Mr Cartes’s international openness and modernisation agenda.

© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2017                                                                                                         9
Turning tides
                              A guide to Latin America’s busy 2018 election year

                              Mexico: Third time lucky?
                              July 1st 2018 (presidential and legislative)

                                Enrique Peña Nieto’s disappointing presidency has been a breeding ground for anti-establishment
                                sentiment. After a promising start, which saw rave reviews for his quick success in pushing through
                                structural reforms, Mr Peña Nieto’s term is coming to a humiliating end. He is extremely unpopular,
                                reflecting a succession of corruption scandals involving fellow members of his party, the Partido
                                Revolucionario Institucional (PRI). Voters are also deeply troubled by the evolution of Mexico’s
                                relations with the US under the presidency of Donald Trump.
                                    All this is useful fodder for the current front-runner in the race, Andrés Manuel López Obrador,
                                the populist candidate of the leftist Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (Morena). A one-time mayor
                                of Mexico City, Mr López Obrador will be running for the third time in 2018. He came second in two
                                previous presidential attempts (in 2006 and 2012), and his support in the polls has remained steady at
                                around 30%. In Mexico’s first-past-the-post system he may not need much more than that to win.
                                    But it is still early days, and Mr López Obrador’s lead could well slide once other parties have defined
                                their candidacies. The PRI is lagging well behind for now but could be revived once its candidate is
                                selected. A stronger challenge to Mr López Obrador will come from Margarita Zavala, a former first
                                lady who left the centre-right Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) in October to run as an independent. By
                                leaving one of Mexico’s “big three” parties, Ms Zavala may also be seeking to tap into voters’ desire
                                                                                                for change. It will be difficult, however, for her to
Disillusioned with democracy                                                                    successfully brand herself as a political outsider
(Percent of respondents answering question: "How satisfied are you with the way democracy is    given her long-standing ties with the PAN—and
working in our country?”)
                                                                     Unsatisfied     Satisfied those of her husband and former president, Felipe
60                                                                                           60 Calderón (2006-12). She will also lack the vast

40                                                                                           40 political machinery long considered necessary to

20                                                                                           20 win elections in Mexico.
                                                                                                    So far the economy has brushed off political
0                                                                                             0
                                                                                                concerns, growing by a steady if unspectacular
20                                                                                           20
                                                                                                rate of just over 2%. All this could change as the
40                                                                                           40 election draws closer, however, reflecting investor

60                                                                                           60 jitters over the election result itself and over the

80                                                                                           80 status of ongoing talks to renegotiate the North

100                                                                                        100
                                                                                                American Free-Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the
      Global Argentina Brazil      Peru Venezuela Latin Colombia Chile             Mexico       US and Canada. If the talks grow more hostile or
     median                                          America
                                                     median                                     collapse, nationalist sentiment will grow, boosting
Source: Pew Research Center.
                                                                                                support for Mr López Obrador.

10                                                                                                        © The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2017
Turning tides
                                                                A guide to Latin America’s busy 2018 election year

Brazil: Draining the swamp
October 7th 2018 (legislative and presidential), October 28th (second-round presidential)

The outlook for Brazil’s October 2018 polls is unusually uncertain. Politicians from major parties have
been hugely discredited by the high-profile corruption investigations that have made daily headlines
over the past three years. This is fertile ground for figures outside the political establishment, such as
Jair Bolsonaro, a right-wing politician and former army officer. He is popular with Evangelical Christian
groups (a growing political force), and his law-and-order discourse appeals to many Brazilians terrified
by the rise in violent crime.
   Ironically, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a former president (2003-10) of the left-wing Partido dos
Trabalhadores, leads in the polls, despite the fact that he has been convicted of corruption and
may well be barred from standing if his appeal fails. He retains support among poorer Brazilians,
particularly in the north, who benefited from socioeconomic improvements during his tenure.
   Assuming Brazil’s incipient economic recovery strengthens, the chances of victory for a candidate
from a centrist party—most likely from the Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira (PSDB)—will
brighten. At the same time, high disapproval ratings would almost certainly scupper the chances of
extreme left-wing or right-wing candidates in an all but certain second round, unless this second
round pitted a candidate from the extreme left against one from the extreme right (a scenario that
would represent a break from Brazil’s pragmatic consensus-seeking history).
   Whoever prevails will inherit the country’s shaky public finances and will need to steer unpopular
pension reforms and other fiscal adjustments through a fragmented Congress to stop the public debt
reaching 100% of GDP and triggering a debt crisis.
   In this context, the election campaign will be overshadowed by concerns about a return to the
economic populism that contributed to Brazil’s brutal 2015-16 recession. For now, investors are taking
a sanguine view, but nerves will begin to fray in the run-up to the elections.
Fiscal woes
(% of GDP)
       Fiscal deficit; left scale                                                            Public debt; right scale
-4.0                                                                                                              100
-4.5                                                                                                              90
-5.0                                                                                                              80
-5.5                                                                                                              70
-6.0                                                                                                              60
-6.5                                                                                                              50
-7.0                                                                                                              40
-7.5                                                                                                              30
-8.0                                                                                                              20
-8.5                                                                                                              10
-9.0                                                                                                               0
          2014           2015              2016   2017   2018    2019        2020         2021         2022
Source: The Economist Intelligence Unit.

© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2017                                                                          11
Turning tides
     A guide to Latin America’s busy 2018 election year

     Venezuela: Stumbling towards chaos
     Presidential and legislative: TBD

     In theory, Venezuela is due to hold presidential and legislative elections in December 2018. In reality,
     it is unclear whether the increasingly authoritarian government of Nicolás Maduro will stick to this
     timetable. If elections do happen, it seems all but impossible that they will be free and fair.
         The constituent assembly put in place in August amid violent protests to draft a new constitution
     has a two-year remit. The Supreme Court would undoubtedly rubber-stamp any attempt to delay the
     presidential election until after this period expires. If the government wished, it could thus push the
     vote back to August 2019 (with further delays a possibility). Alternatively, the government could seek
     to bring the election forward to take advantage of a weak opposition.
         The opposition is in disarray in the aftermath of regional elections in October, in which it gained just
     five out of 23 seats (it had expected to win up to 18). The playing field was uneven. Coercion of voters
     was clear; the opposition states that it has proof of full-blown fraud. But cracks in the opposition
     alliance are deepening amid despair over what to do next.
         Despite all this, and although 2018 may well bring more of the same—more centralisation of power
     in the regime, more opposition disarray and more violent but ineffectual protests—we do not see the
     Maduro regime lasting in the long run.
         The scale of economic mismanagement and corruption and the government’s unwillingness and
     inability to address the root causes of Venezuela’s economic malaise bode ill for an economy that has
     already been in recession for several years. Default and hyperinflation are looming—either could tip
     the Maduro regime over the edge, producing a chaotic transition audited by the military.
         But even without default or hyperinflation, the decimation of domestic production and the ongoing
     destruction of Venezuela’s oil-producing capacity (its only source of dollar revenue) will, without
     massive inflows of investment from abroad, in the end run the Maduro government into the ground.
     But 2018 may not be the year.
     Destruction of GDP
          Real GDP (BsF bn); left scale                                                 Real GDP (% change); right scale
     70                                                                                                               15

     60                                                                                                              10

     50                                                                                                               5

     40                                                                                                               0

     30                                                                                                              -5

     20                                                                                                             -10

     10                                                                                                             -15

     0                                                                                                              -20
              2007        2008         2009   2010   2011   2012   2013    2014       2015       2016      2017
     Sources: Local sources; EIU estimates.

12                                                                        © The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2017
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