International IDEA highlighted the country’s “tremendous civic capital,” while noting an increase in integrity questions in the region.
Uruguay It is the country in the region with the highest level of confidence in the elections, As highlighted by the director of International IDEA for Latin America and the Caribbean, Marcela Rios Tobar, who is in the country to accompany the inmates, after being invited by the Electoral Court.
“More than 80% of the Uruguayans They believe in the validity and fairness of elections. “That is something very relevant, a tremendous civic capital,” he said. Tobar Rivers in dialogue with EFE and added that “it is something worth admiring and hopefully also replicating.”
In this sense, the expert pointed out that it is something exceptional in Latin America. “We see repeatedly that appealing to question the legitimacy of the elections has become a political tool in contexts of high polarization that do a lot of damage to the democracy”, he said about what happened in other countries.
Internal elections and “a very solid party system”
For the director of International IDEA, the internal elections 2024 “They are very different” from the region’s primaries. “There is a very solid party system and they are used very strongly to resolve conflicts or internal party decisions,” highlighted the observer.
Ríos Tobar assured that it is “a very relevant complement for representative democracy and also for the party system to the extent that these are carried out based on the collectivities and groups organized within the parties”, contrasting that “it does not happen everywhere and it does not happen that they can be competitive in different coalitions”.
In this regard, he highlighted the mechanism of slogans and the type of lists that exist in the country. “That is one of the essential characteristics of why democracy in Uruguay works better than in other countries,” he noted.
Despite this, the expert clarified that she believes that this “has room for improvement” and proposed two ways. “Improving the mechanisms of control and monitoring of political financing; and approving more effective mechanisms to ensure the gender parity in all positions of popular representation,” he stated.
Source: Ambito
