Uruguay’s once-dull election has become dead heat in presidential runoff

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MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay — Uruguayans went to the polls Sunday for a second round of voting to choose their next president, with the conservative governing party and the left-leaning coalition locked in a close runoff after failing to win an outright majority in last month's vote.

The staid election has turned into a hard-fought race between Álvaro Delgado, the incumbent party's candidate, and Yamandú Orsi from the Broad Front, a coalition of leftist and center-left parties that governed for 15 years until the 2019 victory of center-right President Luis Lacalle Pou. The Broad Front oversaw the legalization of abortion, same-sex marriage and the sale of marijuana in the small, laid-back South American nation of 3.4 million people.

Orsi's Broad Front took 44% of the vote while Delgado's National Party won 27% in the first round of voting Oct. 27. But the other conservative parties that make up the government coalition — in particular, the Colorado Party — notched 20% of the vote collectively, enough to give Delgado an edge over his challenger this time around.

Congress ended up evenly split in the October vote. Most polls have shown a virtual tie between Delgado and Orsi, with nearly 10% of Uruguayan voters undecided even at this late stage.

Analysts say the candidates' lackluster campaigns and broad consensus on key issues have generated extraordinary indecision and apathy in an election dominated by discussions about social spending and concerns over growing income inequality but largely free of the anti-establishment rage that has vaulted populist outsiders to power elsewhere.

“The question of whether Frente Amplio (the Broad Front) raises taxes is not an existential question, unlike what we saw in the U.S. with Trump and Kamala framing each other as threats to democracy," said Nicolás Saldías, a Latin America and Caribbean senior analyst for the London-based Economist Intelligence Unit. “That doesn't exist in Uruguay.”

Both candidates are also appealing to voter angst over a surge in violent crime that has shaken a nation long regarded as one of the region’s safest and most stable. Delgado promises tough-on-crime policies and a new maximum-security prison while Orsi advocates a community-oriented approach to crime prevention.

Delgado, 55, a rural veterinarian with a long career in the National Party, campaigned on a vow to continue the legacy of current President Lacalle Pou — in some ways making the election into a referendum on his leadership. He campaigned under the slogan “re-elect a good government."

While a string of corruption scandals briefly rattled Lacalle Pou's government last year, the president — who constitutionally cannot run for a second consecutive term — now enjoys high approval ratings and a strong economy expected to grow 3.2% this year, according to the International Monetary Fund. Inflation has also eased in recent months, boosting his coalition.

Delgado served most recently as Secretary of the Presidency for Lacalle Pou and promises to press on with his predecessor's pro-business, market-friendly policies. He would continue pursuing a prospective trade deal with China that has raised hackles in Mercosur, an alliance of South American countries that promotes regional commerce.

Orsi, 57, a former history teacher and two-time mayor from a working-class background, is widely seen as an heir to iconic former President José “Pepe” Mujica, a former Marxist guerilla who boosted Uruguay's profile as one of the region's most socially liberal and environmentally sustainable nations during his 2010-2015 term.

Mujica, now 89 and recovering from esophageal cancer, was among the first to cast his ballot after polls opened.

“When it comes to governing, with the parliamentary structure that we will have, the government will be forced to negotiate,” he told reporters as he emerged from his local polling station, praising Uruguay's robust and level-headed democracy as "no small thing" in Latin America.

While promising to forge a “new left” in Uruguay, Orsi plans no dramatic changes. He proposes tax incentives to lure investment and social security reforms that would buck the demographic trend in lowering the retirement age but fall short of a radical overhaul sought by Uruguay's unions.

The contentious plebiscite on whether to boost pension payouts failed to pass in October, with Uruguayans rejecting generous pensions in favor of fiscal constraint.

“This is a normal election, which is rare,” said Saldías. “It's indicative of Uruguay’s strength as a democracy.”

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