Guide: 2014 Elections in the Americas
Guide: 2014 Elections in the Americas
Eight countries in the Western Hemisphere will hold national-level elections in 2014:
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Collectively, these countries represent around 60 percent of the population of the Western Hemisphere. Voters will elect seven presidents and 1,699 legislators in total. AS/COA Online presents an overview of the region’s federal elections in 2014, along with the latest analysis, results, multimedia, and expert perspectives.
Costa Rica
Type: Presidential and Legislative
First Round: February 2, 2014
Runoff: April 6, 2014. A second round is held if a candidate fails to win more than 40 percent of votes during the first round. During the second round, the victor wins by a majority.
Inauguration: May 8, 2014
Number of Seats: In addition to the president, 57 members of Costa Rica’s unicameral Legislative Assembly will be elected for four-year terms. Reelection is allowed, but consecutive terms are not.
Terms: Presidents serve four-year terms and can be reelected, but cannot serve consecutive terms.
El Salvador
Type: Presidential
First Round: February 2, 2014
Runoff: March 9, 2014. If none of the candidates achieve an absolute majority (50 percent of the vote plus one), a second election is conducted no later than 30 days later. The candidate who garners the most votes wins the second round.
Inauguration: June 1, 2014
Terms: Presidents are elected for five-year terms without the possibility of consecutive re-election.
Colombia
Type: Legislative
Election Day: March 9, 2014
Number of Seats: The Senate holds 102 seats while the Chamber of Deputies houses 166. All seats are up for grabs each election cycle.
Start of Legislative Session: Elected officials will take office on July 20.
Terms: Colombia’s senators and representatives can serve an unlimited number of four-year terms.
Panama
Type: Presidential and Legislative
Election: May 4, 2014
Presidential Election: There is only one round of voting in the presidential election. The candidate who receives a plurality of votes takes office. Presidents are elected for five-year terms and must wait two terms to be eligible for reelection.
Inauguration: July 1, 2014
Number of Seats: 71 representatives in Panama’s unicameral Legislative Assembly will be elected for five-year terms, along with the president.
Terms: Presidents are elected for five-year terms and must wait two terms to be eligible for reelection. There are no term limits for National Assembly members.
Colombia
Type: Presidential
First Round: May 25, 2014
Runoff: June 15, 2014. A second round is held if a candidate fails to win more than 50 percent of votes during the first round. During the second round, the victor wins by majority.
Inauguration: August 7, 2014.
Terms: Presidents serve four-year terms, with the possibility of consecutive reelection.
Brazil
Type: Presidential and Legislative
First Round: October 5, 2014
Runoff: October 26, 2014. A runoff takes place if a candidate fails to receive more than 50 percent of the vote. The winning candidate in the second round must win an absolute majority.
Inauguration: The president takes office on January 1, 2015. The new legislative session starts on February 1, 2015.
Number of Seats: There are 513 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 81 spots in the Senate. Deputies serve four-year terms, and all seats are up for a vote in 2014. Senators serve eight-year terms; a third of seats are up for a vote in 2014.
Terms: Presidents serve four-year terms with the possibility of consecutive reelection.
Bolivia
Type: Presidential and Legislative
First Round: October 12, 2014
Runoff: December 7, 2014. A runoff takes place if a candidate fails to win more than 50 percent of the vote, or 40 percent of the vote with a 10 percent lead over the second-place candidate. In a runoff, the candidate who gains the majority of the vote wins.
Inauguration: The president and legislators take office on January 22, 2015.
Number of Seats: The Chamber of Deputies will fill all 130 seats for five-year terms, and the Senate will elect all 36 members for five-year terms. Members of Congress are eligible for one consecutive reelection.
Terms: Presidents are permitted one consecutive reelection. However, in May 2013 a law was passed allowing President Evo Morales to run for reelection a second time.
Uruguay
Type: Presidential and Legislative
First Round: October 26, 2014
Runoff: November 30, 2014. A runoff is held on the last Sunday of November of the same year if no candidate garners an absolute majority in the first round.
Inauguration: March 1, 2015
Number of Seats: In Uruguay’s bicameral National Legislature, 30 senators and 99 representatives will be elected for five-year terms. There are no term limits for either the upper or lower houses. Also, the vice president serves as an ex officio member of the Senate, bringing to total number of senators to 31.
Terms: Presidents are elected for five-year terms, and may be re-elected but not for consecutive terms.
United States
Type: Legislative
Election Day: November 4, 2014
Number of Seats: All 435 seats are up for election in the House of Representatives, as well as 33 of the 100 Senate seats.
Start of Legislative Session: Newly elected legislators will take office on January 3, 2015.
Terms: Representatives are elected to two-year terms, with all seats up for grabs each election cycle. Senators, on the other hand, serve six-year terms with one-third of Senate seats up for renewal every two years. There are no congressional term limits in the U.S. Congress.
Editor's note: This guide originally incorrectly stated that seven countries in the Americas will hold elections in the 2014. As of the start of 2014, the number of countries with national elections planned is eight, with seven presidents and 1,699 legislators to be elected across these countries. This guide also incorrectly stated that Panama's presidential inauguration is September 1; the correct date is July 1. This guide was updated on May 2 to reflect Bolivia's exact election dates, announced on April 30.
2014 Election Guide Blog
AS/COA Online looks at the latest poll numbers, the leading presidential candidates, and election issues in the countries in the Americas holding federal-level elections in 2014.
2014 Elections Blog: Mandatory Voting in the Americas
While many countries in the Americas have mandatory voting, voter turnout varies throughout the region.
Which countries in the Americas have mandatory voting, and which have penalties for those who fail to show up to cast a ballot? Using data from the most recent head of state elections in 21 countries in the Western Hemisphere, AS/COA Online takes a look at mandatory voting rules, as well as voter turnout.
Explore the interactive map, as well as graphics comparing voting laws and voter turnout.
2014 Election Blog: El Salvador's Runoff Too Close to Call
Separated by less than 7,000 votes, both candidates declared victory as the country’s electoral authorities pledged to carry out a recount.
On March 9, Salvadorans headed to the polls for the country’s second-round presidential election, but because the results were so close, the country’s electoral authorities said they could not call a winner. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) said it would complete a recount by March 12 or 13.
According to the preliminary count on March 9, the governing Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN)’s Salvador Sánchez Cerén won 50.11 percent, while Norman Quijano of the Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) won 49.89 percent. During the second round, initial numbers indicated that voter turnout—at around 60 percent— was higher than during the first round.
As this TSE graphic shows, the two candidates were separated by less than 7,000 votes.
Each candidate won exactly half of the country’s 14 departments, as this map from La Prensa Gráfica depicts.
Both candidates claimed victory. Sánchez Céren vowed to continue the work of the ruling FMLN and to abide by the Constitution.
Vamos a continuar la obra que iniciamos en el 2009. Seremos fieles a La Constitución, todas las libertades están garantizadas. #Adelante
— Salvador Sánchez C. (@sanchezceren) March 10, 2014
He also promised unity. “We are going to govern for everyone, for those who voted for us, and those who did not,” he said.
Meanwhile, Quijano also said he had won and claimed there was foul play at work. "We are not going to allow fraud...We are 100 percent convinced that we have won," he said.
Given the close margin, one factor that could impact the final count is votes from overseas. This year marked the first time that expats could vote abroad. But on Sunday, only about 2,700 expatriate votes had been counted, with more ballots expected to arrive later by mail.
2014 Election Blog: Costa Rican Candidate Ends Campaign during Runoff Race
The April 6 election will go ahead as planned, but the ruling party candidate will stop campaigning, he announced on March 5.
On March 5, the ruling National Liberation Party’s presidential candidate Johnny Araya announced he would discontinue his campaign ahead of the April 6 runoff election. Araya, the former mayor of San José, came in second during the first round of Costa Rica’s presidential race on February 2, winning 29.71 percent. The first place finisher, Luis Solís of the Citizens’ Action Party, earned 30.64 percent—shy of the 40 percent minimum to avoid a runoff. It is the first time in Costa Rican history that a candidate has dropped out of a presidential runoff.
Araya made the announcement at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon. His decision came shortly after the release of a new University of Costa Rica poll showing that the governing party candidate had only 20.9 percent of the vote compared to 64.4 percent for Solís. According to the Constitution, Araya’s name must stay on the ballot and the election will go ahead as planned. However, Araya said he planned to stop campaigning and to be “responsible” by not spending more funds on the campaign.
Es por eso que he decidio ser responsable y abstenerme de hacer campaña y gastar millones de colones.
— Johnny Araya (@Johnny_Araya) March 5, 2014
His campaign manager Antonio Álvarez Desanti added that the decision was due to both financial reasons and gauging low levels of support for the candidate, reports the Tico Times’ Zach Dyer.
PLN campaign chief says focus groups over recent weeks showed a majority of Costa Ricans wanted a different party than Liberation.
— Zach Dyer (@zkdyer) March 5, 2014
During the press conference, Araya said he would work on building a “national dialogue” and rebuilding his party, which has come under scrutiny over corruption allegations. Araya has also had trouble building support around his campaign due to low approval ratings of the current president, Laura Chinchilla, who also belongs to the PLN.
2014 Election Blog: Colombia's Congressional Election
Find out what's at stake during the March 9 vote, including the upcoming presidential election and the country's ongoing peace talks.
On March 9, Colombia holds legislative elections. Voters will choose the full Congress: 102 senators and 166 representatives for four-year terms. Nearly 33 million Colombians are eligible to vote, both at home and abroad. The election takes place ahead of the May 25 presidential election and amid ongoing peace negotiations with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
The Candidates
Former President Álvaro Uribe—an outspoken critic of President Juan Manuel Santos and his administration—is running for the Senate under the Democratic Center banner, a party he created in 2012. It's the first time a former Colombian head of state is seeking a senatorial seat. Two former presidents of the country’s constituent assembly that drew up the 1991 constitution are also running for the upper house: the Liberal Party's Horacio Serpa and the Green Alliance's Antonio Navarro. Other candidates of note include senatorial hopeful Carlos Fernando Galán—son of Luis Carlos Galán, a presidential candidate assassinated in 1989—and congressional candidate Rodrigo Lara Restrepo, the son of Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara Bonilla, assassinated in 1984.
The Polls
Released March 2, an El Tiempo/W Radio Senate race poll found that Uribe's Democratic Center party is in the lead with 23.4 percent. However, in second place with 19.4 percent is no party—that is, those who plan to submit a blank vote. In third place is the Liberal party, followed closely by the governing Social Party of National Unity, or Party of the U. The same survey found that the blank vote accounts for the least in the presidential race with 41.5 percent, while Santos is in second place with 24.2 percent.
A Cifras y Conceptos poll released late last month found similar results on the Senate race, with the Democratic Center in first place with 20 percent, followed by the Liberal Party with 17 percent and the Party of the U at 11 percent. It showed that the senatorial candidate with the highest approval rating is Uribe, with 54 percent. The survey also determined 57 percent of voters say they have no party affiliation.
Key Issues
The legislative election could be a litmus test for Santos and his party ahead of the May 25 presidential election. The Party of the U, the Liberal Party, and other governing party allies stand poised to maintain a majority coalition in the Senate, the Cifras y Conceptos survey indicates. And while the polls favor Uribe, an op-ed in La Silla Vacía notes that the former president's success on March 9 won't necessarily translate into more support for the Democratic Center presidential hopeful, Óscar Iván Zuluaga. The candidate has been sliding in the polls each month; he's currently polling at around 6 percent, according to the El Tiempo survey.
The election may also prove important for the country's ongoing peace process. Dinero writes that this legislature "could possibly begin the post-conflict era," and Semana adds that the new Congress will be "decisive" in the peace negotiations. However, only around a third of Colombians believe the peace process with the FARC will lead to a successful conclusion, according to the Cifras y Conceptos poll. To boot, the FARC refused to declare a ceasefire during the election.
The election will have ramifications in other areas. New rules to improve transparency will be put into place, including biometric identification to fight voter fraud and immediate vote counting on election day. Along with the legislative vote, the Green Alliance will hold a primary vote to choose its presidential candidate. In addition, those living overseas will choose a congressperson to represent expats in Congress.
2014 Election Blog: Polls Show Governing-Party Candidate Leads El Salvador Runoff Race
The last round of polls gave the FMLN’s Salvador Sánchez Cerén an advantage ahead of the March 9 presidential vote.
El Salvador’s presidential runoff vote takes place March 9, and polls give the governing-party candidate a comfortable lead. February 21 marked the last day to release poll findings, and several surveys published ahead of that date show Salvador Sánchez Cerén of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) with a lead in the realm of 10 points or more above Norman Quijano of the Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA). On February 2, Sánchez Cerén garnered 48.92 percent of the vote to narrowly miss getting the absolute majority needed to avoid a second round. Quijano, the former mayor of San Salvador, took in 38.95 percent of ballots.
One major question after the first round was which candidate would snatch up the votes of third-place candidate, former President Tony Saca. A February 18 University of Technology survey found a split down the middle, with half of Saca’s votes going to the FMLN and half to ARENA. The same poll gives the governing party 54.9 percent of votes compared to 45.1 percent for ARENA. A CID-Gallup poll showed Sánchez Cerén with an even larger advantage, with 58 percent against 42 percent for his rival. A survey from the University of Francisco Gavidia published February 21 puts the leading candidate at an even greater advantage, with 53.9 percent for the FMLN and 35.5 percent for ARENA.
An EDH/Newlink poll, which also gave a 10-point poll lead to the first-round winner, found that 12.9 percent of voters remain undecided and 8.8 percent of voters say they don’t intend to participate.
Despite major protests in Brazil last year, voters opted for the status quo. Writing for Quartz, AS/COA's Rachel Glickhouse outlines four theories why.
The election will help define Brazil’s important economic and foreign policy choices, writes COA’s Eric Farnsworth for World Politics Review.
With upcoming elections in both countries, social media has become a critical tool to reach voters, writes AS/COA's Rachel Glickhouse for U.S. News & World Report.