Tight race in Uruguay's presidential runoff as voters head to polls

Uruguayans head to the polls 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.

Ballot stations open at 8:00 a.m. (1100 GMT) and close at 7:30 p.m. local time on Sunday, with the first results expected two hours later.

The election has turned into a hard-fought race between Alvaro Delgado, the incumbent party's candidate, and Yamandu Orsi from the Broad Front, a coalition of leftist and centre-left parties that governed for 15 years until the 2019 victory of centre-right President Luis Lacalle Pou.

Orsi's Broad Front took 44 percent of the vote while Delgado's National Party won just 27 percent 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 percent 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 percent of Uruguayan voters undecided even at this late stage.

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 most safe and stable.

A 'new left'

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 tainted 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 percent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund.

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. His coalition would likely 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 Jose “Pepe” Mujica, a former Marxist guerilla.

“He was born from ordinary workers," Mujica said in a closing campaign ad for Orsi. “He represents, precisely, the average type of what Uruguay is.”

Promising to forge a “new left” in Uruguay, Orsi has proposed tax incentives to lure investment and industrial policy to boost Uruguay’s critical agricultural sector.

He has also floated 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.