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Bloomberg
Uruguayans voted for their next president on Sunday in a runoff in which polls suggest that opposition leader Luis Lacalle Pou will end 15 years of left-wing rule.
Surveys show the 46-year-old career politician from the center-right National Party leading the Broad Front’s Daniel Martinez in an election in which voters will choose between an ambitious reform agenda or continuity under a party that says its policies have slashed poverty and inequality.
Uruguay has managed to avoid the social turmoil and recession that have engulfed other South American countries in recent years. The economy hasn’t stopped growing since 2003, allowing the Broad Front to pour money into social programmes, pensions and healthcare. Even so, the party lost control of Congress in general elections on October 27 as voters grew frustrated with rising unemployment, crime and other grievances.
Lacalle Pou has made cutting in the public sector deficit to protect Uruguay’s access to cheap credit a key part of a reform agenda that includes an overhaul of the pension and public education systems.
The former senator has cobbled together a five-party coalition spanning the center left to the hard right that would give his presidency comfortable majorities in both houses of Congress if he wins.
Martinez, 62, has pitched a more gradual approach to the deficit, saying that faster growth and a shake-up of the social security system should do the trick. He’s also promised to create 90,000 new jobs, boost pensions and retrain 400,000 Uruguayans.
Martinez has touted his negotiating skills as governor of Montevideo — where he convinced opposition council members to fund public works through bond sales — to allay concerns his presidency might struggle to pass legislation in the absence of Broad Front congressional majorities.
Voting is obligatory for Uruguay’s 2.7 million registered voters. Voting stations were expected to open from 8:00 am to 7:30 pm local time with the electoral court expected to publish the preliminary results later that evening. The winner will start his five-year term on March 1, 2020.