Latin America and the Caribbean: Fact Sheet
on Leaders and Elections
Updated August 5, 2020
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
98-684
link to page 2 link to page 2 link to page 2 link to page 2 link to page 2 link to page 2 Latin America and the Caribbean: Fact Sheet on Leaders and Elections
This report provides the results of recent presidential elections in Latin America and the
Caribbean. Below are three tables organized by region, that include the date of each country’s
independence, the name of the most recently elected president or prime minister, and the
projected date of the next presidential election. Information in this report was gathered from
numerous sources, including the U.S. State Department, Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA’s)
World Fact Book, International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) Election Guide,
Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), and other news sources.
Table 1. South America: Heads of State and Election Schedules
Last
Independence
Head of
Election/
Next
Country
Date
Government
Runoff
Election/Runoff
Argentina
July 9, 1816
FERNÁNDEZ, Albertoa
Oct. 27, 2019
Oct. 2023
Bolivia
Aug. 6, 1825
ÁÑEZ, Jeanineb
Oct. 20, 2019c
Oct. 18, 2020d
Brazil
Sept. 7, 1822
BOLSONARO, Jair
Oct. 7, 2018/
Oct. 2022
Oct. 28, 2018
Chile
Sept. 18, 1810
PIÑERA, Sebastián
Nov. 19, 2017/
Nov. 2021
Dec. 17, 2017
May 27, 2018/
Colombia
July 20, 1810
DUQUE, Iván
June 17, 2018
May 2022
Feb. 19, 2017
Ecuador
May 24, 1822
MORENO, Lenín
Apr. 2, 2017
Feb. 2021
Paraguay
May 14, 1811
ABDO BENITEZ, Mario
Apr. 22, 2018
Apr. 2023
Apr. 10, 2016
Peru
July 28, 1821
VIZCARRA, Martíne
/June 5, 2016
Apr. 2021
Oct. 27,
Uruguay
Aug. 25, 1825
LACALLE POU, Luis
2019/Nov.24,
Oct. 2024
2019
Venezuela
July 5, 1811
MADURO, Nicolás
May 20, 2018f
May 2024
Source: Compiled by the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
a. See CRS Insight IN11184, Argentina’s 2019 Elections, by Mark P. Sul ivan and Angel Carrasquil o Benoit.
b. Evo Morales stepped down from office on November 10, 2019, fol owing October 20, 2019, presidential
elections that international election observers assert were marred by fraud. Second Vice President of the
Senate, Jeanine Áñez, declared herself interim president on November 12, 2019.
c. On November 23, 2019, Bolivia passed a law that annul ed the results of the October 20 elections. On
March 22, 2020, Bolivia’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal suspended preparations for national elections
scheduled for May 3 fol owing a declaration of a two-week national quarantine to prevent the spread of
COVID-19. See CRS Insight IN11198, Bolivia: Elections Postponed to October, by Clare Ribando Seelke.
d. On July 23, 2020, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal delayed the election due to COVID-19 to October 18 as
the new date for general elections, which must be approved by the legislative assembly. See CRS Insight
IN11198, Bolivia: Elections Postponed to October.
e. Pedro Pablo Kuczynski was elected president of Peru in June 2016, but resigned on March 21, 2018, just
ahead of a vote on impeachment. First Vice President Martín Vizcarra constitutionally succeeded him and is
set to fulfil the remainder of Kuczynski’s term.
f.
In a controversial move, Venezuela’s presidential election was moved earlier from December 2018 to May
20, 2018. Most Venezuelans and much of the international community considered the May 2018 election, in
which then-President Nicolás Maduro won reelection, as il egitimate (CRS In Focus IF10230, Venezuela:
Political Crisis and U.S. Policy, by Clare Ribando Seelke). The United States and over 50 other countries have
Congressional Research Service
1
link to page 3 Latin America and the Caribbean: Fact Sheet on Leaders and Elections
recognized Juan Guaidó, elected president of Venezuela’s National Assembly in January 2019, as Interim
President of Venezuela yet Maduro remains in power.
Table 2. Mexico and Central America: Heads of State and Election Schedules
Last
Independence
Head of
Election/
Next
Country
Date
Government
Runoff
Election/Runoff
Mexico
Sept. 16, 1810
LÓPEZ OBRADOR, Andrés Manuel
July 1, 2018
July 1, 2024
Costa Rica
Sept. 15, 1821
ALVARADO, Carlos
Feb. 4, 2018/
Feb. 2022
Apr. 1, 2018
El Salvador
Sept. 15, 1821
BUKELE, Nayib
Feb. 3, 2019
Feb. 4, 2024
Guatemala
Sept. 15, 1821
GIAMMATTEI, Alejandro
June 16, 2019/
2023
Aug. 11, 2019
Honduras
Sept. 15, 1821
HERNÁNDEZ, Juan Orlando
Nov. 26, 2017
Nov. 2021
Nicaragua
Sept. 15, 1821
ORTEGA, Daniel
Nov. 6, 2016
Nov. 7, 202a
Panama
Nov. 3, 1903
CORTIZO, Laurentino
May 5, 2019
May 2024
Source: Compiled by CRS.
a. In July 2020, the Nicaraguan government announced a date for the next presidential election. Critics
contend the electoral council’s resolution is invalid because it contains changes in voting rules that the
national legislature is supposed to approve. See Associated Press, “Nicaraguan government sets date for
presidential election,” July 14, 2020, at https://apnews.com/264f780a50f86ee438a187b093f5d755.
Congressional Research Service
2
link to page 4 link to page 4 link to page 4 link to page 4 link to page 4 link to page 4 link to page 5 link to page 5 link to page 5 Latin America and the Caribbean: Fact Sheet on Leaders and Elections
Table 3. Caribbean: Heads of State and Election Schedules
Last
Next
Independence
Head of
Election/
Election/
Country
Date
Government
Runoff
Runoff
Antigua and Barbuda
Nov. 1, 1981
BROWNE, Gaston
Mar. 21, 2018
by Mar. 2023
Bahamas
July 10, 1973
MINNIS, Hubert
May 10, 2017
by May 2022
Barbados
Nov. 30, 1966
MOTTLEY, Mia
May 25, 2018
by May 2023
Belize
Sept. 21, 1981
BARROW, Dean
Nov. 4, 2015
Nov. 2020a
Cubab
May 20, 1902
DÍAZ-CANEL, Miguel
Apr. 2018
Apr. 2023
Dominica
Nov. 3, 1978
SKERRIT, Roosevelt
Dec. 6, 2019
March 2025
Dominican Republic
Feb. 27, 1844
MEDINA, Danilo
July 5 2020
May 2024c
Grenada
Feb. 7, 1974
MITCHELL, Keith
Mar. 13, 2018
by Mar. 2023
Guyana
May 26, 1966
GRANGER, David
Mar. 2, 2020d
2025
Haiti
Jan. 1, 1804
MOÏSE, Jovenel
Nov. 20, 2016e
TBDf
Jamaica
Aug. 6, 1962
HOLNESS, Andrew
Feb. 25, 2016
by Feb. 2021
St. Kitts and Nevis
Sept. 19, 1983
HARRIS, Timothy
June 5, 2020
by 2025
St. Lucia
Feb. 22, 1979
CHASTANET, Allen
June 6, 2016
by June 2021
St. Vincent and the
Oct. 27, 1979
GONSALVES, Ralph E.
Dec. 9, 2015
by Dec. 2020h
Grenadines
Suriname
Nov. 25, 1975
SANTOKHI,
May 25, 2020
2025
Chandrikapersadi
Trinidad and Tobago
Aug. 31, 1962
ROWLEY, Keith
Sept. 7, 2015
Aug. 10, 2020j
Source: Compiled by CRS.
Note: Although Belize is located in Central America and Guyana and Suriname are located in South America, all
three are members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
a. While elections are expected to take place in November 2020, they are constitutionally due by February 13,
2021. See Economist Intelligence Unit, Belize Country Report, 2nd Quarter 2020.
b. Cuba does not have direct elections for its head of government. Instead, Cuba’s legislature selects the
members of the 31-member Council of State, with the president of that body serving as Cuba’s head of
government and head of state. In April 2019, Cuba’s legislature selected Miguel Diaz-Canel for a five-year
term. In October 2019, Cuba’s legislature appointed Diaz-Canel as president of the republic under Cuba’s
new constitution.
c. In April, the Dominican Republic announced that elections would be moved from May to July 2020 due to
the COVID-19 pandemic. Opposition candidate, Luis Abinader, won the election and is scheduled to
assume the presidency on August 16, 2020. See Paola Nagovitch, “The Dominican Republic's 2020 Pandemic
Elections,” Americas Society/Council of the Americas, July 06, 2020, at https://www.as-
coa.org/articles/dominican-republics-2020-pandemic-elections.
d. The Granger government lost a no-confidence vote in the country’s legislature in December 2018. New
elections held on March 2, 2020, were marred by fraud allegations. Preliminary data from a recount
completed on June 8, 2020, showed that opposition candidate Irfaan Ali won, but Guyana’s ruling coalition,
led by President Granger, who running for reelection, is rejecting those results, claiming electoral fraud, and
pursuing legal challenges. See CRS In Focus IF11381, Guyana: An Overview, by Mark P. Sul ivan.
e. Haiti held controversial national elections on October 25, 2015. After postponing runoff elections several
times, the Provisional Electoral Council announced new presidential elections would take place instead in
October 2016; these were delayed for a month due to Hurricane Matthew.
f.
There is a dispute over whether Moïse’s five-year term began in February of the year he was elected (2016),
or upon his own inauguration in 2017, and would end, respectively, on either February 7, 2021, or February
Congressional Research Service
3
Latin America and the Caribbean: Fact Sheet on Leaders and Elections
g. 7, 2022. As of January 13, 2020, Moïse is ruling by decree. Most of the national legislature’s terms expired
on that date without the body having passed an elections law to elect new legislators. Parliamentary
elections scheduled for October 2019 have been postponed indefinitely. Haiti remains without a functioning
legislature to pass new elections laws. See CRS Report R45034, Haiti’s Political and Economic Conditions, by
Maureen Taft-Morales.
h. While St. Vincent’s government has said elections wil be held before the end of 2020, elections are officially
due by March 2021. See Economist Intelligence Unit, Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Country Report,
2nd Quarter 2020.
i.
A coalition of four opposition parties won the most legislative seats in May 2020, On July 13, 2020, the
newly elected National Assembly elected Chandrikapersad “Chan” Santokhi as president, who was sworn in
on July 16, 2020, succeeding Dési Bouterse who served as president since 2010.
j.
On July 3, 2020 the prime minister called a general election for August 10, 2020. See “Security & Strategic
Review,” Latin News, August 2020.
Author Information
Carla Y. Davis-Castro
David A. Blum
Research Librarian
Research Librarian
Acknowledgments
Nese F. DeBruyne, CRS Senior Research Librarian, was the former author of this report.
Disclaimer
This document was prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan
shared staff to congressional committees and Members of Congress. It operates solely at the behest of and
under the direction of Congress. Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other
than public understanding of information that has been provided by CRS to Members of Congress in
connection with CRS’s institutional role. CRS Reports, as a work of the United States Government, are not
subject to copyright protection in the United States. Any CRS Report may be reproduced and distributed in
its entirety without permission from CRS. However, as a CRS Report may include copyrighted images or
material from a third party, you may need to obtain the permission of the copyright holder if you wish to
copy or otherwise use copyrighted material.
Congressional Research Service
98-684 · VERSION 125 · UPDATED
4