Latin America and the Caribbean:
Fact Sheet on Leaders and Elections
Updated May 9, 2022
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
98-684
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his 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
T 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 compiled
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 Government and Election Schedules
Last
Independence
Head of
Election/
Next
Country
Date
Government
Runoff
Election/Runoff
Argentina
July 9, 1816
FERNÁNDEZ, Alberto
Oct. 27, 2019
Oct. 2023
Bolivia
Aug. 6, 1825
ARCE, Luisa
Oct. 18, 2020b
2025
Brazil
Sept. 7, 1822
BOLSONARO, Jair
Oct. 7, 2018/
Oct. 2022
Oct. 28, 2018
Chile
Sept. 18, 1810
BORIC, Gabriel
Nov. 21, 2021/
Nov. 2025/ Dec.
Dec. 19, 2021
2025
Colombia
July 20, 1810
DUQUE, Iván
May 27, 2018/
May 29, 2022
June 17, 2018
Ecuador
May 24, 1822
LASSO, Guil ermo
Feb. 7, 2021/
Feb. 2025
Apr. 11, 2021
Paraguay
May 14, 1811
ABDO BENITEZ, Mario
Apr. 22, 2018
Apr. 2023
Peru
July 28, 1821
CASTILLO, Pedro
Apr. 11, 2021
Apr. 2026
/June 6, 2021
Uruguay
Aug. 25, 1825
LACALLE POU, Luis
Oct. 27, 2019/
Oct. 2024
Nov. 24, 2019
Venezuela
July 5, 1811
MADURO, Nicolás
May 20, 2018c
May 2024
Source: Compiled by the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
Notes: For information on Guyana and Suriname, see Table 3.
a. Evo Morales stepped down from office on November 10, 2019, due to concerns of fraud in his October
2019 reelection bid. Second Vice President of the Senate Jeanine Áñez became interim president on
November 12, 2019. Fol owing elections on October 18, 2020, with the victory for the political party MAS,
Luis Arce became president on November 8, 2020.
b. Elections were held on October 18, after the November 2019 results were annul ed, and then delayed in
March 2020 due to the spread of COVID-19. See CRS In Focus IF11325, Bolivia: An Overview, by Clare
Ribando Seelke.
c. 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
recognized Juan Guaidó, elected president of Venezuela’s National Assembly in January 2019, as interim
president of Venezuela, yet Maduro remains in power.
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Table 2. Mexico and Central America: Heads of Government 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
CHAVES, Rodrigo
Feb. 6,
Feb. 2026/Apr.
2022/Apr. 3,
2026
2022
El Salvador
Sept. 15, 1821
BUKELE, Nayib
Feb. 3, 2019
Feb. 2024
Guatemala
Sept. 15, 1821
GIAMMATTEI, Alejandro
June 16, 2019/
2023
Aug. 11, 2019
Honduras
Sept. 15, 1821
CASTRO, Xiomara
Nov. 28, 2021
Nov. 2025
Nicaragua
Sept. 15, 1821
ORTEGA, Daniel
Nov. 7, 2021a
Nov. 2025
Panama
Nov. 3, 1903
CORTIZO, Laurentino
May 5, 2019
May 2024
Source: Compiled by CRS.
Notes: For information on Belize, see Table 3.
a. Prior to the elections, the Ortega government arrested eight people who sought to challenge Ortega in the
elections and dozens of political and civil society leaders. Much of the international community, including the
United States, rejected the elections; the Organization of American States declared that the elections “were
not free, fair or transparent and have not democratic legitimacy.” See U.S. Mission to the Organization of
American States, “OAS General Assembly Condemns the Ortega-Muril o Regime in Nicaragua,” November
12, 2021, at https://usoas.usmission.gov/oas-general-assembly-condemns-the-ortega-muril o-regime-in-
nicaragua/. See also CRS Report R46860, Nicaragua in Brief: Political Developments in 2021, U.S. Policy, and
Issues for Congress, by Maureen Taft-Morales.
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Table 3. Caribbean: Heads of Government 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
DAVIS, Philip
Sept. 16, 2021
by Sept. 2026
Barbados
Nov. 30, 1966
MOTTLEY, Mia
Jan. 19, 2022
by Jan. 2027
Belize
Sept. 21, 1981
BRICEŇO, Johnny
Nov. 11, 2020
by 2025
Cubaa
May 20, 1902
DÍAZ-CANEL, Miguel
Apr. 2018
Apr. 2023
Dominica
Nov. 3, 1978
SKERRIT, Roosevelt
Dec. 6, 2019
by Mar. 2025
Dominican Republicb
Feb. 27, 1844
ABINADER, Luis
July 5, 2020
May 2024
Grenada
Feb. 7, 1974
MITCHELL, Keith
Mar. 13, 2018
by Mar. 2023
Guyana
May 26, 1966
ALI, Irfaan
Mar. 2, 2020c
by 2025
Haiti
Jan. 1, 1804
HENRY, Arield
Nov. 20, 2016e
Postponed
indefinitelya
Jamaica
Aug. 6, 1962
HOLNESS, Andrew
Sept. 3, 2020
by 2025
St. Kitts and Nevis
Sept. 19, 1983
HARRIS, Timothy
June 5, 2020
by 2025
St. Lucia
Feb. 22, 1979
PIERRE, Philip
July 26, 2021
by June 2026
St. Vincent and the
Oct. 27, 1979
GONSALVES, Ralph E.
Nov. 5, 2020
by 2025
Grenadines
Suriname
Nov. 25, 1975
SANTOKHI,
May 25, 2020
2025
Chandrikapersadg
Trinidad and Tobago
Aug. 31, 1962
ROWLEY, Keith
Aug. 10, 2020
by 2025
Source: Compiled by CRS.
Notes: 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. 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.
b. The Dominican Republic moved elections from May to July 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
c. Irfaan Ali was sworn into office on August 2, 2020, five months after elections were held on March 2, 2020.
Allegations of fraud and vote tampering delayed the election results as supporters of the ruling government
led by President David Granger pursued legal challenges. See CRS In Focus IF11381, Guyana: An Overview, by
Mark P. Sul ivan and Joshua Klein.
d. President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated on July 7, 2021. Haitian Acting Prime Minister Claude Joseph was
in charge in the immediate aftermath. Moïse had named Ariel Henry as prime minister, but not sworn him in
the day before his death. Henry became de facto prime minister on July 20, 2021. Under the Haitian
Constitution, either the Council of Ministers under the Prime Minister should govern or, in the last year of
a presidential term, the legislature should elect a provisional president. There has been no functioning
legislature since January 2020, when most of the legislators’ terms expired. See CRS Insight IN11699, Haiti:
Concerns After the Presidential Assassination, by Maureen Taft-Morales.
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.
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Latin America and the Caribbean: Fact Sheet on Leaders and Elections
f.
On January 13, 2020, most of the national legislature’s terms expired without the body having passed an
elections law to elect new legislators. From that date until his death, President Moïse ruled by decree.
Moïse appointed a new Provisional Electoral Council by decree, which announced a constitutional
referendum that could change electoral laws, and parliamentary and presidential elections. The moves were
arguably unconstitutional. See CRS Report R45034, Haiti’s Political and Economic Conditions, by Maureen Taft-
Morales. In September 2021, de facto Prime Minister Henry dissolved the Provisional Electoral Council and
has since said he also plans to hold a constitutional referendum and elections soon after. Elections were
repeatedly postponed and no date has been set. Henry has said he wil remain in office until new elections
are held. Civil society and political coalitions are calling for an interim government to take his place, in part
because they say his term expired when Moïse’s should have, on February 7, 2022. See Maria Abi-Habib and
Natalie Kitroeff, “Haiti Opposition Group Calls on U.S. to End Support for Current Government,” New
York Times, February 6, 2022.
g. 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.
Author Information
Carla Y. Davis-Castro
Research Librarian
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Congressional Research Service
98-684 · VERSION 156 · UPDATED
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