Presidential Elections in Brazil and Bolivia, and Their Conflicting Implications for the “Pink Tide”

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In the weeks before Brazil’s first round of elections on October 5, the smart money seemed to be on a runoff between President Dilma Rousseff of the PT (the Workers Party) and Marina Silva of the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB), former members of the ruling coalition.  It didn’t work out that way.  Silva lost steam and fell prey to the PT’s negative ads.  But now in a second round on October 26 against pro-business rival Aécio Neves, candidate for the center-right Brazilian Social Democracy Party, PSDB, Rousseff and the PT have to contend with the millions of votes Silva is trying to send to their opponents.  Brazil’s twelve-year run with left-leaning government seems to hang in the balance.  In Bolivia, it was a different story.  President Evo Morales crushed his opponents in the first round on October 12 to gain a third term in office.  Though often derided as buffoonish by the opposition, Morales has presided over two terms of unprecedented economic growth and political stability, and 60% of Bolivians stood by him.