The predictions came true in Uruguay, the leftist Frente Amplio (FA) was the most voted political force in the presidential and legislative elections this Sunday. His candidate, Yamandú Orsi, that had support in the campaign of former president José Pepe Mujica, obtains 44% of the votes, according to exit poll data, six points below the 50% necessary to win in the 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 the official Álvaro Delgado of the National Party is located (center-right), which improves the forecasts with 27% of the votes and remains the leader of the current ruling coalition that defeated the FA in 2019.
Delgado is followed by Andrés Ojeda, of the conservative Colorado Party, with 16%, almost three percentage points above the previous election. Cabildo Abierto, the right-wing party led by Guido Manini Ríos, falls sharply and barely achieves 2%, while the junior partner of the coalition, the Independent Party, would obtain another 2%. With these results in sight, it is possible to anticipate 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 44% for the left.
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 PN, 17 from the PC, 2 CA and 1 from the PI, although this scenario could vary in the final scrutiny. 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, 9 for the PN and 5 for the PC, according to preliminary data.
On this day the Uruguayans also They spoke out on two constitutional reforms that were submitted to a plebiscite. According to preliminary data, the social security reform proposed by the PIT-CNT workers’ confederation and some sectors of the left have not been approved. The Yes ballot obtained almost 40% support, 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 Yes was also around 40%.
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 years old, in the Cerro neighborhood of Montevideo. On the way out she spoke to the press and took stock of the electoral campaign: “I saw her a little distracted, very worried about what she was going to spend and not about how it was going to be generated. “They didn’t give the agro-exporting country a single ball.” In addition, he referred to the low intensity of citizen participation during these months and called for “supporting” democracy. “Until now we 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 this morning avoided answering whether or not he would assume his seat. Upon arriving at the voting center, the president shook hands with FA voters and celebrated the tranquility with which this 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 twelve 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 registered, for example, in Chile – 4.5 per 100,000. with which it is often compared.
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