The predictions were fulfilled in Uruguay: the leftist Frente Amplio (FA) was the political force with the most votes this Sunday in the presidential and legislative elections. Its candidate, Yamandú Orsi, who had the support of former president José Pepe Mujica in the campaign, obtained 43.9% of the votes, with 99.9% counted, almost six points below the 50% necessary to win in first round It is a bitter victory, because the FA hoped to exceed that percentage announced by the polls and face the second round, scheduled for November 24, with more strength. Behind Orsi is the ruling party Álvaro Delgado, from the National Party (center-right), who improves the forecasts with 26.7% of the votes and remains the leader of the current ruling coalition that defeated the Frente Amplio in 2019.
Delgado is followed by Andrés Ojeda, of the conservative Colorado Party, with 16%, almost three percentage points above the previous election. With this result, this formation is out of the next round. The rest of the parties have obtained less than 5% of the votes. Cabildo Abierto, the right-wing party led by Guido Manini Ríos, has fallen sharply and barely achieved 2.4%, while the coalition’s junior partner, the Independent Party, would get another 1.73%. With these results, it is likely that the second round will be close, but with the ruling party as the favorite: the sum of the parties in the ruling alliance reaches 47% compared to almost 44% for the left.
“Today is a night of joy, a celebration of democracy,” Orsi said in front of the crowd that was waiting for him on the Montevideo coastal promenade to celebrate the victory. Like many of his coreligionists, he insisted that the Frente Amplio “is the party with the most votes in Uruguay”, as has been the case in the last elections. While Orsi was speaking, the Uruguayan shield appeared at the back of the stage. “We are going for that last effort, with more desire than ever,” he said, and urged unity before the voters. FrenteAmplistas who listened to him.
In the Plaza Varela in Montevideo, meanwhile, hundreds of euphoric militants from the ruling coalition formations gathered, whose parties presented themselves separately, with Delgado’s Nacional as the most voted. Their leaders arrived after 11:30 at night and appeared united in a “neutral stage” set up for the occasion. “Good evening, coalition,” Delgado greeted. In the background appeared a large Uruguayan flag and the announcement Government Coalition 2030. “The polls spoke, Uruguay said that the coalition is the most voted political project in the country,” he expressed. He announced that this Monday, 28 candidates will meet to design the campaign for the second round on November 24. “Today we begin to assemble the Government and elect the President of the Republic, have no doubt about that,” Delgado added. This same Monday, the candidate continued, the technicians of the coalition parties will also meet to shape a common program.
The congressional election
On this day, the composition of the two legislative chambers, made up of 99 deputies and 30 senators, was also defined. According to the first projections, the ruling bloc could reach the majority in the Chamber of Deputies, with 30 legislators from the National Party, 17 from the Colorado Party, two from Cabildo Abierto and one from the Independent Party, although this scenario could vary in the scrutiny end. The Frente Amplio, for its part, would have 47 seats. The news of the night is that the anti-system Sovereign Identity party would enter the Chamber of Deputies with two seats. In the case of the Senate, the scenario is even more even. The left would obtain 16 seats, nine for the National Party and five for the Colorado Party, according to preliminary data.
Uruguayans also spoke out about two constitutional reforms that were submitted to a plebiscite. Finally, the social security reform proposed by the PIT-CNT workers’ confederation and some sectors of the left has not been approved. The ballot of Yeah It obtained 38.8% support, more than ten points below the 50% necessary to be approved. This initiative sought to lower the retirement age from 65 to 60, equate retirement to the national minimum wage and eliminate private savings managers. The other reform that sought to enable nighttime police raids prohibited by the Constitution was not approved either. In this case, the vote for Yeah was 39.9%.
Beyond these results, politicians have unanimously highlighted the calm with which Uruguayans lived the day. As happens every five years, the elections took place with absolute tranquility and in a festive atmosphere that on this occasion contrasted with the citizen disinterest that predominated in the previous months of the campaign.
Since democratic recovery in 1985, Uruguay has enjoyed political stability that is often praised outside its borders, largely based on the strength of its political parties. According to the index of The Economistthe country is among the 14 full democracies in the world. For this reason, there were no international observers in this Sunday’s elections, but there were special foreign visitors who came to Uruguay to learn about the work of the Electoral Court, a century-old public body whose performance has the support of the entire system. Participation reached 90% of the 2.7 million eligible to vote, in a country where voting is mandatory.
One of the first to vote on this spring Sunday was former President Mujica, 89, in the Cerro neighborhood of Montevideo. On the way out she took stock of the electoral campaign: “I saw her a little distracted, worried a lot about what she was going to spend and not about how it was going to be generated. “They didn’t give a single ball to the agricultural exporting country.” In addition, he referred to the low intensity of citizen participation during these months and called for “supporting” democracy. “Until now, humans have not invented anything better,” said Mujica, who arrived in a good mood and in a wheelchair, due to the weakness caused by the treatment he received for esophageal cancer diagnosed in May of this year.
In these elections, all the Senate lists of the National Party were headed by President Luis Lacalle Pou, who has avoided answering whether or not he would assume his seat. Upon arriving at the voting center, the president shook hands with Broad Front voters and celebrated the tranquility with which the day was experienced throughout the national territory. “Today the Government begins to change, there are 125 days left. Until March 1st we will be like the first day, finishing our task. We want to make an orderly transition,” said Lacalle Pou.
With 3.4 million inhabitants, Uruguay has been part of the group of countries that the World Bank considers “high income” for 12 years and is classified as a country of “very high human development” by the United Nations Development Program. Development. However, it presents challenges that the next Government will have to address as soon as it takes office in March 2025, as all political leaders agree. Among the most urgent are child poverty, which is estimated at 20%, as well as public insecurity. With a rate of 11.2 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, Uruguay’s situation is not among the most critical in Latin America, but it doubles the world average and is far from the rate recorded, for example, in Chile – 4.5 homicides each. 100,000―, with which it is often compared.
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