Voters in South America’s quiet Uruguay, known for its beaches, legalized marijuana and stability, will head to the polls on Sunday in a second-round presidential race among moderates, capping a bumper year of elections.
Voting in the small country of 3.4 million people pits opposition centre-left candidate Yamandu Orsi against continuation conservative front-runner Alvaro Delgado, who has the support of a third-place ally.
Final opinion polls show that the vote on November 24 promises to be very tight, with less than 25,000 votes potentially separating the frontrunners.
Unlike the sharp right-left divide in recent elections in Argentina, Brazil or Mexico, Uruguay’s political arena is relatively tension-free, with significant overlap between conservative and liberal coalitions competing for office, according to Sunday’s final results. Is affected to some extent by.
Ballot stations open at 8 a.m. (1100 GMT) and close at 7:30 p.m. local time, with the first results expected two hours later.
Mr Orsi, who has promised a “modern leftist” policy approach, won 43.9% in the October vote for the Broad Front and will face Delgado, who took 26.8% but also has the support of the conservative Colorado Party. Who is with his National Party. Got about 42% votes. Both the parties did the same by winning the elections in 2019 also.
Mr Orsi has tried to reassure Uruguayans that he does not plan a sharp policy shift in the traditionally liberal and relatively prosperous nation.
Meanwhile, Mr. Delgado has called on voters to “re-elect a good government”, taking advantage of the popularity of President Lacalle Poe, who constitutionally cannot run for immediate re-election.
No coalition has an absolute majority in the lower house after the October elections. But Mr. Orsi’s Broad Front won 16 of the 30 Senate seats. He argues that his Senate majority puts him in a better position to lead the next government.
Both contenders on Sunday are hoping to attract about 8% of the first-round voters who, along with smaller, non-aligned parties, failed to turn out in October.
But neither have made any new pledges to appeal to them in the final weeks, and pollsters say a televised debate on November 17 has had little impact.
“I don’t know who I’m voting for,” said Rosario Gusque, 42, of the Canelones area, where Orsi was previously mayor. “Even less so after watching the debate.”
As the biggest year for elections in history comes to a close, one question is whether Uruguay will be able to buck the global trend of incumbent parties losing vote share compared to previous elections. Voters hurt by inflation and high costs of living have punished parties in power, including in Britain, Japan and the United States.
However a strong Uruguayan economy could help Delgado on Sunday: “There are some signs that voters are clamoring for significant political change,” said Nicolas Saldias, Uruguay analyst for the Economist Intelligence Unit.
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