Uruguay’s Broad Front won a third-consecutive term in power yesterday, making it the longest-serving political party in four decades, as Tabare Vazquez was elected president for a second time.
Vazquez had 52.8 percent of votes against 40.5 percent for the National Party’s Luis Lacalle Pou, with all the ballots counted excluding 34,180 under review, according to the Electoral Court. The victory means the Broad Front will have a majority in both houses of Congress.
Vazquez, 74, who was president between 2005 and 2010 before handing over to Agriculture Minister Jose Mujica, has pledged to maintain economic policies following nine years of economic growth averaging 5.6 percent. The former oncologist campaigned on a
pledge to eradicate poverty completely from Uruguay by maintaining social spending that increased by 83 percent in the eight years through 2012.
“Our government will be a new stage on the same road, but it won’t be the same,” Vazquez said in comments aired on television. “The Uruguay of today is not the same as it was in 2005 or 2010. There are new demands, new possibilities and new challenges.”
Bordered by Argentina and Brazil, Uruguay has a $56 billion economy, one quarter the size of Peru’s. Moody’s raised that nation’s rating by one level to Baa2 in May after having increased it to investment grade in 2012.
Lacalle Pou said he telephoned Vazquez to concede defeat and wish him success with his government.
People Decided
Mujica will hand over power to Vazquez March 1 before returning to his seat in the Senate.“The people have decided,” Lacalle Pou said in comments broadcast on television. “The results should be obeyed, respected and defended.”
Under Mujica, a 79-year-old former guerrilla popularly known as “Pepe,” the country has legalized gay marriage, abortion and marijuana. Mujica had an approval rating of 65 percent, according to an Equipos Mori poll of 700 people carried out Nov. 18-25.
The South American nation’s economy has expanded as it boosted agricultural exports to China and attracted investments from pulp plants to liquefied natural gas terminals.
The nation’s dollar-denominated debt has returned 15.5 percent this year compared with an average 8.6 percent for emerging markets, according to data compiled by JPMorgan Chase & Co. The extra yield investors demand to hold the nation’s debt over U.S. Treasuries is 2.02 percentage points, compared with an average 3.62 percentage points for Latin American peers.
The peso, which weakened 0.7 percent Nov. 28 to 23.6850 per dollar, has weakened 9.2 percent in 2014 compared with losses of 28 percent for Argentina’s currency and 9.9 percent for the Brazilian real.
(An earlier version of this story was corrected to remove reference to Paraguay in the fifth paragraph.)
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