Elections in Argentina, Mexico and Paraguay in Comparative Perspective

Abstract

This essay emphasis will be placed on studying the 2023 electoral scenarios in Argentina, Paraguay and Mexico from a historical and comparative perspective. First, we will address how each of the country’s political system became more heterogeneous and complex but, at the same time, organized in a bimodal logic forced by the presidential race. Second, we will observe how this situation favored an opposition–government cleavage that electorally compelled the formation of large catch-all fronts and coalitions. Third, we will show how this social division becomes electorally relevant during the twenty-first century in gen-eral, and in the 2023 elections in particular, as it is expressed in a campaign discourse that emphasizes continuity versus change. To conclude, we will comparatively analyze how the electoral political trajectories of these countries acquire a similar-in-form but differ-ent-in-essence dynamic.