Frente Amplio (FA) party presidential candidate, Tabare Vazquez, left, and party’s vice presidency candidate, Raul Sendic, taking part in the electoral campaign closing event in Montevideo.
Reuters/Montevideo
Uruguayan voters decide tomorrow whether to give the ruling coalition another term after a decade of strong growth and leftist reforms, or turn to an opposition candidate who says legalising marijuana production was a step too far.
Opinion polls ahead of the presidential election show young centre-rightist Luis Lacalle Pou forcing the governing coalition’s Tabare Vazquez, a former president, into a runoff vote in late November.
Vazquez, 74, brought the leftist Broad Front to power 10 years ago and won praise for his blend of pro-market economic policies and social welfare policies.
His successor, outgoing President Jose Mujica, continued with the model and his straight-talking, unpretentious style made him one of the small nation’s most popular leaders.
Mujica also legalised abortion and gay marriage, and last year made Uruguay the world’s first country to legalise the production, distribution and sale of marijuana.
Uruguay’s constitution bars a president from holding two consecutive terms in office so Vazquez returned to be the Broad Front’s candidate. He says his government, if he wins, will remain focused on improving conditions for the most vulnerable in a country of 3.4mn people.
“Vazquez is going to be president again because Uruguayans don’t want to return to the past,” said Analia Vernini, a 36-year-old dentist.
Lacalle Pou, 41, is the son of former president Luis Lacalle, although he has sought to distance himself from his father’s 1990-95 rule, which was stained by botched privatisations and political scandal.
The latest opinion polls show Vazquez with the support of 43% of voters compared with 31% for Lacalle Pou.
But that would leave Vazquez short of the 50% he needs for a first-round victory and, in a runoff, Lacalle Pou could secure the support of right-wing Colorado Party candidate Pedro Bordaberry, who has polled between 14-18% support. That would make the runoff vote a tight one.
Voters also elect lawmakers on Sunday. Neither the Broad Front nor Lacalle Pou’s National Party are likely to win a majority in Congress, meaning the next president will face a tougher time than Mujica in passing laws.
A keen surfer, father-of-three Lacalle Pou is viewed by supporters as a fresh face for Uruguayan politics. With more socially liberal views than previous National Party candidates, who could appeal to moderate voters on both the left and right.
He has tapped into the simmering discontent felt by many Uruguayans toward the extent of Mujica’s social reforms. Almost two in three opposed the ex-guerrilla’s plan for the state to oversee the legal production and commercial distribution of marijuana.