Regional integration and presidential elections in Latin America in the context of COVID-19

There is a book published in 2023 by Vernon Press with this title “Lessons from Regional Responses to Security, Health and Environmental Challenges in Latin America”, edited by Ivo Ganchev, founder of the Centre for Regional Integration, in London, UK. It contains 11 chapters, authored by authoritative academics who employ methodologically-diverse perspectives. Each chapter provides insights that would be of interest to scholars, students and policy-makers working on the regional governance of Latin America and the Caribbean and the Global South. The contributions are thematically organised and produced with pragmatic considerations in mind, discussing existing and potential real solutions to pressing issues.  In this chapter 7 written by Ignacio Medina. After the introduction, it has two sections. The first will describe the context of the pandemic in several countries in the subcontinent that held electoral processes for the presidency during 2020–2021; the second will discuss the reactivation of the idea of Latin American integration in the CELAC Summit in Mexico City in September 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic influenced the electoral results and especially the integration process.  I will first outline the critical situation of health care systems that were not prepared to face the magnitude of the effects of COVID-19. But due to the great risks of contagion during 2020–21—and given that electoral processes involve the concentration of crowds in assemblies and rallies, especially when casting their votes—certain voting dates were postponed. Finally in 2021, countries such as Ecuador, Peru, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Chile conducted elections after considering how the they were affected by the pandemic. After discussing the critical years of the pandemic, I will focus on how CELAC’s Sixth Summit in Mexico in 2021 reactivated expectations of Latin American integration with the impetus of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, then president pro tempore of this community.