Fifteen years of leftist rule yesterday hung in the balance as Uruguay faced a tight presidential election that was likely to head to a runoff vote.
The left-leaning Broad Front coalition has governed the small South American nation since 2005 and its achievements include laws to approve gay marriage and the creation of the world’s first national marketplace for legal marijuana.
However, opponents have capitalized on growing disenchantment with the government over slowing economic growth and rising insecurity.
Photo: AFP
Polls gave the Broad Front’s Daniel Martinez, the socialist former mayor of Montevideo, an edge over his strongest rival, Luis Lacalle Pou, a centrist former lawmaker from the National Party.
However, neither was expected to get the 50 percent plus one vote needed to win outright and avoid a runoff next month.
With the Broad Front at the helm, Uruguay has seen significant economic growth. Poverty has dropped dramatically, to 8.1 percent, while the legalization of gay marriage, abortion and the sale of marijuana in pharmacies has strengthened the country’s reputation as a trailblazer in the region.
“Even though I’m a Christian and I’m not in favor of things like legalizing abortion, I’m voting for the Broad Front, because the country has progressed, people are better off,” said Nicolas Robledo, 24, who works at a car wash. “Who could buy themselves a car before?”
However, the administration of Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez has been hampered by scandals that have taken a bite out of its approval ratings.
Uruguayan Vice President Raul Sendic had to resign in 2017 over corruption allegations, the government has failed to address a dismal high-school graduation rate and a record 414 homicides last year have made public safety an urgent issue.
“I think Martinez is a good person, but I’m not voting for him because I don’t want the Broad Front to win and open the door for some of the shameless people in this government to show up,” said Susana Lopez, a 60-year-old shop worker.
Martinez, a 62-year-old engineer who has held posts in government and the private sector, has urged voters to stick to the process of “change and social justice” that his party promotes.
Lacalle Pou, 47, who was the runner-up in the 2014 election, has a political pedigree, with a father who was president and a mother who was a senator. He has been plugging his own policies and those of a range of other parties from the center-left to the right that he hoped will help him form a government.
Although the Broad Front led in the polls, political scientist Adolfo Garce said a second round win could be difficult.
A number of other parties have already declared their intention to support the National Party or the candidate with the strongest chance of beating the incumbent in a second round.
Uruguayans were also to elect 99 deputies and 30 senators and they would be voting on a series of referendums on tough on crime measures. These include introducing possible life imprisonment for the most serious crimes, creating a new unit of the military to help with public safety and scrapping early release of prisoners convicted of the worst offenses.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese