Uruguay’s long-dominant leftist ruling party was facing defeat in a presidential election runoff yesterday as the small South American country prepared to swing to the right.
Opinion polls showed that Uruguayan Senator Luis Lacalle Pou, the 46-year-old leader of the center-right National Party, was likely to win as voters appeared set to turn the page on 15 years of leftist rule.
Lacalle Pou trailed outgoing Montevideo Mayor Daniel Martinez, the ruling Broad Front’s candidate, in last month’s first round, but a pact with center-right and right-wing parties following simultaneous legislative elections has given him a majority in Uruguayan Congress as well as a significant lead heading into the runoff.
Photo: AP
“Polls suggest he has a 6-8 point lead, although the result may well tighten,” said Robert Wood, Latin America manager for the Economist Intelligence Unit.
A win for the right would “reflect a trend in the region of voters rejecting the incumbent party over disappointing results,” he said.
The runoff was effectively a referendum on 15 years of rule by the Broad Front — or Frente Amplio — which has won the last three elections.
“Voters are tired of economic stagnation, high unemployment and rising crime since the end of the commodity supercycle and will look to Mr Lacalle Pou for improvements,” Wood told reporters.
Inflation is running at 7.5 percent and unemployment at 9 percent.
The Broad Front, a coalition of leftist movements, can point to a record of progressive government since it broke a decades-long conservative stranglehold on government in 2005.
Uruguay stood out on the international stage by approving abortion and gay marriage, and the small nation pioneered the legalization of cannabis in 2013.
However, Lacalle Pau has tapped into voter concerns over the country’s high tax rates and promised to look elsewhere to raise the US$900 million needed to reduce the public deficit, nearly 5 percent of GDP.
“Uruguay can’t bear any more taxes,” he told supporters.
The latest polls showed Lacalle Pou at 51 percent, ahead of the 43 percent for Martinez.
Uruguay has long been considered a bastion of peace and stability in an often turbulent region.
“Uruguay continues to be cited as an example of a functioning democracy in the region, whilst rejecting extremist populists outcomes,” said Paul Hare of Boston University.
“It is an example for other regions, including the United States,” Hare told reporters.
However, security has been declining, with a sharp rise in some violent crimes reported last year.
South America’s second-smallest country last year registered a record 414 murders, up 45 percent on the year before. About 2.6 million voters were called to the polls yesterday.
The next president is to take office in March for five years.
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