ABSTRACT
The latest results of Latin America’s 2006 elections show the region’s difficulty in constructing political majorities, a task that is both complex and difficult. The region must reconstruct national social agreements to guarantee stability and promote opportunities to allow the governments to operate more democratically. Yet in the majority of Latin American countries fragmentation and polarization are hindering politically, economically, and socially the government’s role and the ability of citizens to exercise their rights. In this context, Latin America’s election results during November, 2005, and December, 2006, show large divisions within each country. Practically everywhere, the citizens’ dissatisfaction with governmental political practices in the last decade are forcefully being manifested, whether expressed as a vote of repudiation or as a vote for continuity but with different expectations.
