Uruguay votes in tight ballot between official mandate or return of the left

Montevideo. Uruguay votes in a second round in which it will decide on its next president between the official candidate of the coalition led by the National Party, Álvaro Delgado, and the opposition Yamandú Orsi, from the leftist Frente Amplio.

The election became a close race between Delgado and Orsi, who champions a coalition of left-wing and center-left parties that governed for 15 years until the 2019 victory of center-right president Luis Lacalle Pou. The Frente Amplio oversaw the legalization of abortion, same-sex marriage and the sale of marijuana in the small, sleepy South American nation of 3.4 million people.

Some 2.7 million Uruguayans are called to the polls after neither of the two contenders achieved the majority of votes to win in the first round of the elections held a month ago.

In the electoral contest on October 27, Orsi’s Frente Amplio was the most voted bloc and secured 44 percent of the votes, while Delgado won 26.8 percent of the support.

However, the official candidate must have the support of the other parties in the center-right ruling coalition, formed in 2019, to achieve the transfer of votes. Among them, it has the traditional Colorado Party, the third largest political force in the country.

The electoral campaign for these elections was marked by an unusual apathy of the electorate and, just as happened a month ago, it is expected that the undecided will be fundamental for the outcome, since close to 10 percent of Uruguayans have not yet defined their vote. .

Polls point to an even dispute: on the one hand, Orsi, 57 years old and heir to the historic José “Pepe” Mujica, trusts in the strength of the historic Frente Amplio, who governed between 2005 and 2020, to return power to the left after five years of absence.

At the helm, Delgado appeals to Lacalle Pou’s good image to convince voters about the permanence of the administration and relies on his “internal” experience in the government, where he acted as Secretary of the Presidency.

As usual, former president “Pepe” Mujica, 89 years old and recovering from esophageal cancer, was one of the first to cast his vote. The former president arrived at his circuit, located at school number 149 on Cerro de Montevideo, supported by a cane and had to wait about ten minutes until the polls opened.

After voting, Mujica praised the solidity of the electoral process in Uruguay and stressed the importance of preserving it for future generations.

“Uruguay is a small country but it has earned recognition for being stable, for having a citizenry that respects institutional formalities. “It is no small thing in our poor and battered Latin America,” he told reporters. “Young people be aware of that. It took a lot to learn and generate that.”

Regarding the result of the elections, the former president evaluated that, regardless of the winner, “surely the government that comes will have to be able to create a climate that allows approaching and negotiating.”

“During the electoral campaign, tempers are exacerbated, but when it is necessary to govern, with the parliamentary structure that we will have, the need to negotiate will be imposed on the government,” he added.

The two blocs arrive at the ballot in parity of conditions, with a slight advantage for Orsi, who, although he finished first in the October elections, was behind the sum of the coalition parties (47 percent) that competed separately.

Pollsters speak of a “technical tie” and warn that the final difference could be even smaller than when Lacalle Pou beat the Broad Front candidate Daniel Martínez in 2019, with an advantage of less than 40 thousand votes.

The tight projections made the two presidential candidates intensify their campaigns, but with different strategies. Orsi tried to get voters from the junior partners of the ruling alliance; Delgado adopted the opposite maneuver and has made an effort to “build loyalty” to the support of his coalition.

With 20 years of political experience, Orsi emphasized his promise to govern with a renewed left, focused on income redistribution to boost economic growth. Likewise, it proposes incentives to revitalize the country’s essential activities, such as agriculture, industry, tourism and small businesses, in addition to having adopted a more market-friendly discourse.

Delgado, a 55-year-old veterinarian with a long history in the National Party, tried to catapult his closeness with the president and has insisted on being the face of “continuity.” He defends greater economic openness in the country and, like his rival, advocates boosting growth after the slowdown experienced by the Covid-19 pandemic and a historic drought, but through reforms for a more “efficient” State.

Given the uncertainty, for this final stage of the electoral race both contenders had strong support.

If until now both Mujica and Lacalle Pou had a more timid role and remained on the margins of the political arena, during the campaign for this second and crucial round both played a leading role in favor of their respective political godsons.

“I bet with all my soul on Yamandú,” said former president Mujica (2010-2015) in a campaign closing video. “He was born from an ordinary worker. And he represents, precisely, the average type of what the Uruguay”.

For his part, Lacalle Pou, who cannot run for reelection and is prohibited from campaigning, has praised the achievements and high points of his administration in public events in order to support the candidacy of his political dolphin. This Sunday, he received his political dolphin for an informal meeting at his home before Delgado went to his voting center.

“He came to give me a hug as a friend, we are always together in this,” said the current president in brief statements to journalists.