In the first half of March 2015 President Dilma Rousseff faced a revolt in Congress over austerity legislation, an ongoing corruption scandal at the state-run oil company Petrobras, and truly massive protest marches in cities throughout the country.  In fact, pundits now talk of a breakdown of the politics of “class conciliation” that have underwritten

The leader of Chile’s main right-wing party, the UDI, resigned amid a campaign finance scandal, and the center right RN said it will keep its distance for now since “it is too early” to reactivate the coalition. As a result there are calls for stricter laws dealing with corruption and measures to revive the legitimacy

Cabinet Chief Aníbal Fernández likened the electoral deal between the UCR and PRO party with the 1999 alliance led by ex-president Fernando De La Rúa that ended in the 2001 crisis. He said this coalition belongs to the “dreadful right.” 

A year before Peru’s next presidential election the leader of the country’s biggest opposition party has a double-digit lead over her next potential rival. 

Elections are approaching and there is still a paramilitary threat to the political process on the local level, where threats of violence or outright “purchase of votes” affect races ranging from mayors to members of Congress.