Upcoming Elections
Guyana Snap Parliamentary – March 2019
Reuters reports: “Guyana’s parliament voted late on Friday in favor of a no-confidence motion in the government, triggering new elections in March in a surprise defeat for President David Granger as he seeks to develop the nation’s oil sector…. The Guyanese parliament had never before called a no-confidence vote.”
Uruguay General – October 27, 2019
Laurence Blair explores whether Uruguay will elect a conservative government in October after over a decade of leftist rule.
Recent Elections
Brazil
Cristina Tardáguila, founder of Agência Lupa, the first fact-checking newswire in Brazil, reflects on the impact fact-checking had on Brazil’s recent elections, and the role that fact-checking can play to improve democracy everywhere. She writes: “At least three former presidential candidates corrected themselves after Agência Lupa fact-checked them. Jair Bolsonaro (PSL), Henrique Meirelles (MDB) and Guilherme Boulos (PSOL) adjusted numbers they were misusing on TV debates and interviews after receiving negative ratings from our team….At least three politicians — Fernando Haddad (PT), Geraldo Alckmin (PSDB) and Kátia Abreu(PDT) — mentioned in interviews they had to be very careful with what they were saying because they knew they were being fact-checked by Agência Lupa and they didn’t want their claims to be tagged as “false” the next day.” Misinformation was a massive problem during Brazil’s elections. Civil society pushed back, and can be prepared to have an even bigger impact on future elections.
American Enterprise Institute researcher Ryan C. Berg explores how Brazil’s judiciary could check president-elect Jair Bolsonaro’s power.
Other Regional News and Views
Cuba
Richard Feinberg at the Brookings Institution writes: “As the Castro brothers fade into history, green shoots of civil society are visibly emerging in Cuba. Make no mistake: The Cuban Communist Party retains its authoritarian hegemony. Nevertheless, and largely unnoticed in the U.S. media, various interest groups are flexing their youthful muscles—and with some remarkable albeit very partial policy successes.”
Nicaragua
The Washington Post Editorial Board writes: “DANIEL ORTEGA, Nicaragua’s authoritarian president, is an old hand at repression, having first used it to self-serving effect in the 1980s as the firebrand revolutionary leader of the leftist Sandinista government. Now an aging strongman presiding over an economy in free fall and faced with months of popular street protests, Mr. Ortega is again suffocating independent media, human rights groups and other outposts of civil society.”
Rice paddy in Guyana. Guyana’s economy mainly depends on agriculture and extractive industries, but recent discoveries of oil could completely change the economy in the coming years. Photo credit: Wikimedia/Tracy Dos Santos
21votes does not necessarily endorse all of the views in all of the linked articles or publications.
Americas This Week – December 22, 2018
Leave a Comment
Last Updated: December 31, 2018 by 21votes
Each day, 21votes gathers election and political news from a different region of the world. We explore the Americas on Saturdays. Click the map pins.
Guyana Snap Parliamentary - March 2019
Reuters reports: “Guyana’s parliament voted late on Friday in favor of a no-confidence motion in the government, triggering new elections in March in a surprise defeat for President David Granger as he seeks to develop the nation’s oil sector…. The Guyanese parliament had never before called a no-confidence vote.”
Uruguay General - October 27, 2019
Laurence Blair explores whether Uruguay will elect a conservative government in October after over a decade of leftist rule.
Brazil
Cristina Tardáguila, founder of Agência Lupa, the first fact-checking newswire in Brazil, reflects on the impact fact-checking had on Brazil’s recent elections, and the role that fact-checking can play to improve democracy everywhere. She writes: “At least three former presidential candidates corrected themselves after Agência Lupa fact-checked them. Jair Bolsonaro (PSL), Henrique Meirelles (MDB) and Guilherme Boulos (PSOL) adjusted numbers they were misusing on TV debates and interviews after receiving negative ratings from our team….At least three politicians — Fernando Haddad (PT), Geraldo Alckmin (PSDB) and Kátia Abreu(PDT) — mentioned in interviews they had to be very careful with what they were saying because they knew they were being fact-checked by Agência Lupa and they didn’t want their claims to be tagged as “false” the next day.” Misinformation was a massive problem during Brazil’s elections. Civil society pushed back, and can be prepared to have an even bigger impact on future elections.
American Enterprise Institute researcher Ryan C. Berg explores how Brazil’s judiciary could check president-elect Jair Bolsonaro’s power.
Cuba
Richard Feinberg at the Brookings Institution writes: “As the Castro brothers fade into history, green shoots of civil society are visibly emerging in Cuba. Make no mistake: The Cuban Communist Party retains its authoritarian hegemony. Nevertheless, and largely unnoticed in the U.S. media, various interest groups are flexing their youthful muscles—and with some remarkable albeit very partial policy successes.”
Nicaragua
The Washington Post Editorial Board writes: “DANIEL ORTEGA, Nicaragua’s authoritarian president, is an old hand at repression, having first used it to self-serving effect in the 1980s as the firebrand revolutionary leader of the leftist Sandinista government. Now an aging strongman presiding over an economy in free fall and faced with months of popular street protests, Mr. Ortega is again suffocating independent media, human rights groups and other outposts of civil society.”
Upcoming Elections
Guyana Snap Parliamentary – March 2019
Reuters reports: “Guyana’s parliament voted late on Friday in favor of a no-confidence motion in the government, triggering new elections in March in a surprise defeat for President David Granger as he seeks to develop the nation’s oil sector…. The Guyanese parliament had never before called a no-confidence vote.”
Uruguay General – October 27, 2019
Laurence Blair explores whether Uruguay will elect a conservative government in October after over a decade of leftist rule.
Recent Elections
Brazil
Cristina Tardáguila, founder of Agência Lupa, the first fact-checking newswire in Brazil, reflects on the impact fact-checking had on Brazil’s recent elections, and the role that fact-checking can play to improve democracy everywhere. She writes: “At least three former presidential candidates corrected themselves after Agência Lupa fact-checked them. Jair Bolsonaro (PSL), Henrique Meirelles (MDB) and Guilherme Boulos (PSOL) adjusted numbers they were misusing on TV debates and interviews after receiving negative ratings from our team….At least three politicians — Fernando Haddad (PT), Geraldo Alckmin (PSDB) and Kátia Abreu(PDT) — mentioned in interviews they had to be very careful with what they were saying because they knew they were being fact-checked by Agência Lupa and they didn’t want their claims to be tagged as “false” the next day.” Misinformation was a massive problem during Brazil’s elections. Civil society pushed back, and can be prepared to have an even bigger impact on future elections.
American Enterprise Institute researcher Ryan C. Berg explores how Brazil’s judiciary could check president-elect Jair Bolsonaro’s power.
Other Regional News and Views
Cuba
Richard Feinberg at the Brookings Institution writes: “As the Castro brothers fade into history, green shoots of civil society are visibly emerging in Cuba. Make no mistake: The Cuban Communist Party retains its authoritarian hegemony. Nevertheless, and largely unnoticed in the U.S. media, various interest groups are flexing their youthful muscles—and with some remarkable albeit very partial policy successes.”
Nicaragua
The Washington Post Editorial Board writes: “DANIEL ORTEGA, Nicaragua’s authoritarian president, is an old hand at repression, having first used it to self-serving effect in the 1980s as the firebrand revolutionary leader of the leftist Sandinista government. Now an aging strongman presiding over an economy in free fall and faced with months of popular street protests, Mr. Ortega is again suffocating independent media, human rights groups and other outposts of civil society.”
Rice paddy in Guyana. Guyana’s economy mainly depends on agriculture and extractive industries, but recent discoveries of oil could completely change the economy in the coming years. Photo credit: Wikimedia/Tracy Dos Santos
21votes does not necessarily endorse all of the views in all of the linked articles or publications.
Share this:
Related
Category: This Week Tags: Brazil, Cuba, Guyana, Nicaragua, Uruguay