Uruguay’s voters select next president in run-off election

World Today

Voters in Uruguay braved poor weather to cast their ballots in the presidential run-off. Opinion polls showed former leader Tabare Vazquez was in the lead. If he won, it would be his second time in office. Whoever wins will replace outgoing leader, Jose “Pepe” Mujica, who was barred by the constitution to seek another term. CCTV America’s Joel Richards reported from Montevideo.

Despite weather alerts, there was no avoiding the rain as voting is a legal requirement in Uruguay.

One of the first to cast their vote was former President Mujica, who left the presidency with approval ratings of 65 percent, according to local surveys.

The question was not who will replace Mujica at the executive tower in Montevideo, but how much Broad Front coalition will win by.

Surveys showed the 74-year-old Broad Front candidate, Tabare Vazquez, who was the president from 2005 and 2010, carried a considerable lead going into this head-to-head match, having taken 48 percent of the first round of the election last month.

“There has to be participation by the people, at all times and for any occasion,” said Vazquez.

His rival, 41-year-old National Party candidate Luis Lacalle Pou, was unable to gain ground with a more conservative manifesto. “We support a country in peace and calm, and that is what we are going to offer the country regardless of the outcome,” said him.

Having already won a majority of seats in Uruguay’s Congress, the ruling left-wing Broad Front coalition was set to continue to shape Uruguay until 2015.


Jason Marczak talked about the Uruguay presidential election

For more on the Uruguay presidential election, CCTV America interviewed Jason Marczak, the deputy director of Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center at the Atlantic Council.