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Agence France-Presse

Left-wing politician Yamandu Orsi was elected president of Uruguay, official results showed, in a rebuke by voters of five years of conservative rule.
Uruguayans went to the polls for the second round of voting in what became a tight race between Orsi, of the Frente Amplio (Broad Front) alliance, and Alvaro Delgado of the National Party, a member of outgoing President Luis Lacalle Pou’s centre-right Republican Coalition.
Orsi promised in a victory speech on Sunday evening to be a president “who calls again and again for national dialogue to find the best solutions”.
Delgado meanwhile conceded defeat, saying he was sending “a big hug and a greeting to Yamandu Orsi”.

Though the election will shift the balance of power in Uruguay, analysts did not foresee a massive change in the country’s economic direction, with Orsi having previously promised “change that will not be radical.”
Both candidates pledged to fight crime linked to drug trafficking and to boost economic growth, which is recovering from the slowdown brought by the Covid-19 pandemic and a historic drought.
Orsi won 1,196,798 votes compared to Delgado’s 1,101,296, the country’s Electoral Court said – 49.8 per cent to 45.9 per cent.
Cheers broke out in the capital Montevideo, a bastion of Frente Amplio support, when projections showing Orsi in the lead were announced.
His campaign was boosted by support from Jose “Pepe” Mujica, a former guerilla lionised as “the world’s poorest president” because of his modest lifestyle during his 2010-2015 time in office.
Orsi, seen as an understudy of Mujica, had garnered 43.9 per cent of the October 27 first-round vote – short of the 50 per cent needed to avoid a run-off but ahead of the 26.7 per cent of ballots cast for Delgado.

The pair came out on top of a crowded field of 11 candidates seeking to replace Lacalle Pou, who has a high approval rating but is barred constitutionally from seeking a second consecutive term.
Following October legislative elections, Orsi will govern with a majority in the Senate, though the Frente Amplio is in the minority in the Chamber of Representatives.
Orsi’s victory will see Uruguay swing left again after five years of centre-right rule in the country of 3.4 million inhabitants.
In 2005, the Frente Amplio coalition broke a decades-long conservative stranglehold with an election victory and held the presidency for three straight terms.
It was voted out in 2020 on the back of concerns about rising crime blamed on high taxes and a surge in cocaine trafficking through the port of Montevideo.
Polling numbers ahead of the vote showed perceived insecurity remains Uruguayans’ top concern five years later.

Congratulations rolled in from across Latin America, including from Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum and Chile’s Gabriel Boric.
“This is a victory for all of Latin America and the Caribbean,” Lula said on X.
Outgoing leader Pou said on social media that he called Orsi “to place myself at his disposal to begin the transition as soon as I think it is appropriate”.
Voting is compulsory in Uruguay, one of Latin America’s most stable democracies, with comparatively high per-capita income and low poverty levels.
During the heyday of leftist rule, Uruguay legalised abortion and same-sex marriage, became the first Latin American country to ban smoking in public places and the world’s first nation, in 2013, to allow recreational cannabis use.
Former president Mujica, who is battling cancer and had to use a cane to walk into his polling station to vote, said Sunday: “Personally, I have nothing more to look forward to. My closest future is the cemetery, for reasons of age.
“But I am interested in the fate of you, the young people who, when they are my age, will live in a very different world.”
Sunday’s results confirmed that Uruguay had followed a global trend of incumbent parties losing vote share compared with the previous election, as the biggest year for elections in history comes to an end. Voters hurt by inflation have punished parties in power, including in Britain, Japan and the United States.
Additional reporting by Reuters


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Americas and the Caribbean

Supporters celebrate the victory of Yamandu Orsi in the presidential run-off election in Montevideo, Uruguay. Photo: AP

Yamandu Orsi celebrates victory with running mate Carolina Cosse. Photo: AP

Supporters of Uruguay’s president-elect Yamandu Orsi in Montevideo. Photo: AFP

Presidential candidate Alvaro Delgado concedes defeat. Photo: Reuters

Uruguay’s former president Jose Mujica casts his vote. Photo: Reuters

Presidential candidate Alvaro Delgado, centre, takes a photo with a supporter during the second round of the presidential elections, in Montevideo, Uruguay on Sunday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Supporters of Broad Front coalition presidential candidate Yamandu Orsi campaign one day ahead of the presidential run-off election. Photo: AP

Yamandu Orsi, centre-left presidential candidate, gestures after voting for a presidential election run-off in Canelones, Uruguay on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

Uruguay’s former president Jose Mujica at a polling station in Montevideo, Uruguay on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum during a press conference at the National Palace in Mexico City, Mexico, on Friday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum (left) shaking hands with China’s President Xi Jinping during the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Monday. Photo: AFP

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau talks with Sheinbaum during the G20 Summit leaders meeting. Photo: AP Photo

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Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia voting in Caracas earlier this year. Photo: AFP

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. File photo: Reuters

Graffiti in Caracas reading ‘Here Edmundo Won’. Photo: AFP

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Brazil’s then-President Jair Bolsonaro in 2018. File photo: AFP

Supporters of Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro storm the Supreme Court building in Brasilia on January 8, 2023. File photo: AP

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Photo: AFP

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World

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South American nation joins others around the world in rebuking the incumbent party in a year of landmark elections


South American nation joins others around the world in rebuking the incumbent party in a year of landmark elections.
