Latin America’s anti-incumbency sentiment shows no sign of abating

By Oliver Stuenkel

The past years have not been kind to presidents in Latin America. Irrespective of ideological orientation, voters have not only reliably thrown out their leaders after one presidential term. They have also consistently refused to elect the candidates outgoing presidents had chosen as their preferred successors.

In fact, if there is one rule presidential candidates in the region have sought to follow, it is that they must not project continuity and should avoid, at all costs, the endorsement of the outgoing president.

In 2018, no one understood Brazil’s electorate better than Jair Bolsonaro, who successfully argued that he represented...