The Year of the Right is looming in Latin America

Elections in Costa Rica, Peru, Colombia and, above all, Brazil could amplify the trend set in 2025.

- J.P. Spinetto

Mr Jose Antonio Kast wasted no time. Less than 36 hours after being elected Chile's next president, the conservative leader boarded a plane, crossed the Andes and paid a visit to his ideological ally, Argentina's libertarian standard-bearer Javier Milei.

As political images go, it was powerful: Right-wing ideals have become the binding glue between two leaders who could hardly be more different in style, temperament and life choices.

If 2025 marked the reemergence of Latin America's right with Mr Milei securing a crucial midterm victory in October, conservatives prevailing in Ecuador and Honduras, and, most strikingly, the end of socialism in Bolivia after nearly two decades in power — then 2026 is likely to cement it.

Elections in Costa Rica, Peru, Colombia and, above all, Brazil could amplify the trend, redrawing alliances and transforming a loose drift into a solid blue tide. It would hardly be surprising if, a year from now, the region's four largest economies had all swung right, leaving Mexico as the lone leftist outlier.

After more than two decades covering Latin American politics, I've learnt to distrust electoral predictions, and this column makes none now.

In Colombia, a left-wing candidate could still exploit divisions across the right and the centre to succeed Mr Gustavo Petro. In Brazil, the seemingly ageless Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva holds a respectable lead over a fractured opposition, though convincing voters to grant him a record fourth term may prove far harder come October. And recent history offers reminders that political disruptors can still burst onto the scene at the eleventh hour.