Two decades ago the mere notion of examining local elections in Latin
America would have produced a puzzled look and a simple question: ?Why
Elections of any sort were limited and suspect if they occurred at all,
and local elections were for the vast majority of countries nonexistent.
Latin America's return to democracy in the 1980s marked a new chapter in
its political history. During this movement from military to civilian
regimes, local elections played a key role in democratization. They
represented the breadth and depth of political change occurring in the
region. Urban Elections in Democratic Latin America explores the
electoral politics of several of the major urban centers and capital
cities of democratic Latin America. The primacy of urban centers
throughout Latin America magnifies the importance of this study. Latin
America is over two-thirds urban, and two of the world's three largest
cities are now in Latin America: the metropolitan areas of Mexico City
and Sao Paulo. Previous discussions on electoral politics have focused
exclusively on presidential elections. However, democratization requires
more than presidential elections; indeed, ultimately it may depend on
the presence and vitality of local elections. This text examines the
neglected topic of these elections. The chapters analyze the electoral
process in ten Latin American countries, including an examination of how
local elections have either paralleled or diverged from national
election patterns.
