More than 90 percent turnout, but no winner: Uruguay will determine the successor of the socialist president Tabaré Vázquez in a runoff election. After counting the votes, no candidate has achieved the absolute majority needed to win the first ballot. Daniel Martínez of the left government alliance Frente Amplio came to 38 percent; Luis Lacalle Pou of the conservative Partido Nacional at 28 percent. The ballot is scheduled for November 24th.
"We have already taken the path of dialogue," said Martínez with regard to alliances for the runoff. He was not concerned with a distribution of ministerial posts, but with shared ideas.
Government coalition loses more than ten percentage points
The runner-up Lacalle Pou got for the ballot support of three smaller parties whose candidates in the first ballot together reached 24 percent of the vote. The upcoming government will not be from his party alone, "but a multi-colored coalition led by the Partido Nacional," said Lacalle Pou.
The governing coalition lost almost ten percentage points compared to the last elections in 2014 and lost its absolute majority in parliament. According to the newspaper "El Observador", Frente Amplio will have 13 of the 30 senators and 41 of the 99 deputies.
Martínez, until a few months ago Mayor of Montevideo, represents the moderate wing of the left coalition. Lacalle Pou is the son of former President Luis Lacalle and applies as a young innovator of the conservative camp.
The troubled economy was the focus of the election campaign. With falling prices of Uruguayan exports, the state deficit has risen to 4.8 percent of gross domestic product; unemployment reaches 9 percent.
More than 90 percent of the 2.7 million voters participated in the election. In Uruguay there is a compulsory vote. The new government is scheduled to begin its term until 2025 on 1 March 2020.