09/28/2020 - 15:55
Clarín.com
World
The Government of Uruguay, headed by Luis Lacalle Pou,
emerged strengthened
from the departmental elections held this Sunday in the country, after the National Party (PN, center-right)
won in 15 of the 19 municipalities
(regional governments).
With 100% of the votes counted, the political force to which the president belongs
regained power in three departments
that were in the hands of the Broad Front (FA, left): Rocha, Paysandú and Río Negro.
However,
the FA maintained Salto
and achieved comfortable victories in Canelones and Montevideo, the two most populated centers in Uruguay.
These are the main keys to election day:
The National Party, winner
After winning 15 out of 19 possible municipalities,
the National Party
was the big winner of the day, as the political scientist Adolfo Garcé explained to Efe.
"It did not lose any of the governments that it had and it recovered three that the Broad Front ran," he explained.
Along the same lines, the also political scientist Daniel Chasquetti said that the PN was the one that achieved the best results and pointed out that for this reason,
"the Government comes out with support."
The president of Uruguay Luis Lacalle Pou, votes during the development of the regional elections, in Montevideo.
Photo EFE
Executive sources described the good result obtained by the PN throughout the country as "support" for Lacalle Pou's management,
despite the fact that the president could not deploy all his policies
in the almost seven months of his mandate due to the arrival of the pandemic .
As said sources told Efe, the Government is experiencing with "satisfaction" the "good choice" on Sunday for the interests of the Government coalition, made up of four more parties,
especially the emergence of a figure such as Laura Raffo
, candidate for the Municipality of Montevideo, despite not achieving victory.
Montevideo, strength of the FA
Once again, the Uruguayan capital, as since the 1989 elections in which the former president of the country (2005-2010 and 2015-2020) Tabaré Vázquez won,
proved to be a left-wing fortress
in which the FA won by wide differentiates and placed the former Minister of Industry, Energy and Mining Carolina Cosse as the elected mayor.
With three candidates for mayor, the winner
obtained 52%
while the candidate of the Multicolor Coalition of the National Executive Power, Laura Raffo, reached 40%.
Relations
Once the results were known,
Lacalle Pou called Cosse to congratulate
her on her victory.
This Monday, Garcé assured Efe that the relationship between them will be "interesting" and assured that, despite the fact that the new mayor had the support of the left wing of the FA, she will also have "strong incentives"
to moderate and build bridges
, thinking that the local government can be a "springboard" towards the national one.
Chasquetti, for his part, said that the relationship between Cosse and Lacalle Pou will be "normal."
The elected mayor of Montevideo, Carolina Cosse, speaks to the press.
Photo EFE
"The Uruguayan political parties are well institutionalized and understand the game.
One thing is to compete for votes and another is to coexist institutionally,
" he said.
Three defeats
The president of the FA, Javier Miranda, described this Monday in statements to the morning program Desayunos Informales to the departmental elections
as "bittersweet" for his political force.
This is due, among other things, to the fact that the FA was able to maintain some historical places such as Montevideo, Canelones and Salto (the three departments with the largest population in the country) but lost the departments of Rocha, Fray Bentos and Paysandú.
However, Miranda said that the one who hurts the most is Rocha,
since they had been governing there for 15 years
and, in his opinion, the department "changed enormously."
The cases of Fray Bentos and Paysandú were different because the votes there were always close.
Despite this, Miranda accused the national government of actively participating in the Paysandú campaign due to the visits of the president, Luis Lacalle Pou, to that department during the electoral campaign.
The red border
The Colorado Party (PC) is one of the historical political forces of Uruguay since they have been the government practically throughout the 20th century and the first five years of the 21st century.
However, after the crisis of 2002 and, after the increase in popularity of the FA,
the PC has been losing ground at the national level
, as well as many departments.
People wear masks as they form to cast their vote during the departmental elections in Montevideo.
Photo Xinhua
However,
there is one place where he is invincible: Rivera
.
In this department on the border with Brazil (where a large part of the COVID-19 cases have been detected in Uruguay due to the binational life that its inhabitants have with the neighboring country) the CP is implacable.
The elections pass and the results do not vary.
There, the PC always plants the flag and stands firm.
This time, the mayor will be Richard Sander.
Only two women
One of the most striking aspects of the departmental election was the low participation of women as candidates.
In fact,
only 16% of the applicants to the departmental chair
were women and only two were winners -which represents 10.5% of the total-.
Perhaps the biggest surprise was in the candidate from Lavalleja, where aspiring Carol Aviaga - who highlighted the particular strength of the political women in her department - lost to Mario García.
Chinstraps and tranquility
The electoral day that took place throughout the day in the country was marked
by the typical Uruguayan calm and restraint,
but also by health measures due to the pandemic.
Chinstraps, masks, alcohol gel and social distancing were present in each of the voting centers.
Despite being in a health emergency, Uruguayans turned out to vote in large numbers (approximately 85% of those authorized) and the day that culminated, in many departments, with militants celebrating in the streets with flags, fireworks, was not diminished and songs.
Source: EFE
PB
Look also
Elections in Uruguay: Lacalle Pou won in 13 districts and the Frente Amplio retained Montevideo
Uruguay: José Mujica announced that he is leaving politics