MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — Uruguayans on Sunday voted in the second round of the country's presidential election, with the conservative governing party and a left-leaning coalition locked in a close runoff following level-headed campaigns widely seen as emblematic of the country's strong democracy.
As polls closed Sunday evening, voter turnout stood at 89.4% — around the same as during the first round last month in which Álvaro Delgado, the incumbent party’s candidate, and Yamandú Orsi, of the center-left Broad Front coalition, failed to win an outright majority. Voting in Uruguay is compulsory, with over 2.7 million citizens eligible.
Independent polling firms conducting so-called quick counts — which are taken from small samples of ballots cast — put Orsi, a working-class former history teacher and two-time mayor, in the lead with about 49% of the vote. Delgado, a rural veterinarian with a long career in the center-right National Party, trailed him with about 46%. It did not say why the two numbers did not total 100%.
Other counts had Orsi, 57, ahead by slightly different margins.
A win for Orsi would make the small South American nation the latest country to rebuke an incumbent party in this landmark election year where voters frustrated with post-pandemic economic malaise have punished ruling parties around the world, from the United States and Britain to South Korea and Japan.
But unlike elsewhere in the world, Orsi is a moderate who plans no radical changes and agrees with his opponent on key issues like combating childhood poverty and cracking down on organized crime.
Despite his promise to lead a “new left” in Uruguay, his platform resembles the mix of market-friendly policies and welfare programs that characterized the Broad Front’s 15-year rule before the 2019 election brought center-right President Luis Lacalle Pou to office.
He proposes tax incentives to lure investment and social security reforms that would lower the retirement age but fall short of a radical overhaul sought by Uruguay’s unions that failed to pass in October, with Uruguayans rejecting generous pensions in favor of fiscal constraint.
“He’s my candidate, not only for my sake but also for my children’s,” Yeny Varone, a nurse at a polling station, said of Orsi. “In the future they’ll have better working conditions, health and salaries.”
From 2005-2020, the Broad Front presided over economic growth and pioneering social reforms that won widespread international acclaim. Behind Uruguay's legalization of abortion, same-sex marriage and sale of marijuana was former President José “Pepe” Mujica, an ex-Marxist guerilla who became a global icon and mentor to Orsi.
Mujica, now 89 and recovering from esophageal cancer, turned up at his local polling station before balloting even began, praising Orsi’s humility and Uruguay’s famous stability.
“This is no small feat,” he said of Uruguay’s “citizenry that respects formal institutions.”
Delgado, 55, a rural veterinarian with a long career in the National Party, served most recently as Secretary of the Presidency for Lacalle Pou and campaigned under the slogan “re-elect a good government.”
With inflation easing and the economy expected to expand by some 3.2% this year, according to the International Monetary Fund, Delgado has promised to continue pursuing his predecessor’s pro-business policies. Lacalle Pou, who constitutionally cannot run for a second consecutive term, has enjoyed high approval ratings.
But the unofficial exit polls appeared to show that mounting complaints about years of sluggish economic growth, stagnant wages and the government’s struggle to stem an upsurge in violent crime helped to swing the election against the incumbent party.
For weeks, most polls showed a virtual tie between Delgado and Orsi. Analysts predicted that the vote would hinge on a small group of undecided voters after lackluster campaigns that, while failing to entice apathetic young voters, steered clear of the anti-establishment fury that has vaulted populist outsiders to power from the U.S. to neighboring Argentina.
“Neither candidate convinced me and I feel that there are many in my same situation,” said Vanesa Gelezoglo, 31, in the capital, Montevideo, adding she would make up her mind at “the last minute.”
Both candidates pledged full cooperation with each other if elected.
“I want (Orsi) to know that my idea is to form a government of national unity,” Delgado told reporters after casting his vote in the capital's upscale Pocitos neighborhood. He said that if he won, he and Orsi would chat on Monday over some yerba mate, the traditional herbal drink beloved by Uruguayans.
Orsi described Sunday's democratic exercise as “an incredible experience" as he voted in Canelones, the sprawling town of beaches and cattle ranches just north of Montevideo where he served as mayor for a decade.
“The essence of politics is agreements,” he said. “You never end up completely satisfied.”
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Associated Press writer Isabel DeBre in Villa Tunari, Bolivia, contributed to this report.
