URUGUAY-ELECTION/CAMPAIGN CLOSES Uruguayan candidates close out presidential campaigns

Record ID: 347218

  • Title: URUGUAY-ELECTION/CAMPAIGN CLOSES Uruguayan candidates close out presidential campaigns
  • Date: 24th October 2014
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF CANDIDATES WITH WIVES AND OTHER POLITICIANS AT THEIR SIDE CROWDS WITH BANNERS
  • Embargoed: 8th November 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Uruguay
  • Country: Uruguay
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAA2M4X9NLKYGQXKOTDWMGV2SXR
  • Story Text: The two leading candidates for president in Uruguay held rivaling final campaign rallies Thursday (October 23), just three days before the South American country heads to the polls on Sunday (October 26) for a first-round vote.
    And all eyes are on opposition candidate Luis Lacalle Pou, leader of the centre-right National Party (Partido Nacional), and his running-mate, 2004 presidential candidate, Jorge Larrangana.
    Lacalle Pou's popularity has surged in recent months and is expected to threaten Jose Mujica's ruling Broad Front (Frente Amplio) party, leading to a neck and neck runoff against Broad Front candidate and one-time president, Tabare Vazquez in late November.
    The son of former conservative president Luis Alberto Lacalle, Lacalle Pou has largely been able to shake off his 'daddy's boy' image as demonstrated by a vertiginous climb in the polls which show Pou trailing the Vazquez.
    But with both men projected to fall short of the absolute majority needed for a first-round victory, they will probably go to a late November runoff, where polls show them running neck and neck.
    The 41-year old lawyer has managed to win over disgruntled Uruguayans with his call for change in leadership, a call he repeated at a rally Thursday in Las Piedras, Canelones, located 23 km (14 miles) to the north of Montevideo.
    "We believe that on October 26, Uruguay is going to be reborn with a new way of doing things, and not just with regards to its (political) representatives, but really for all its people. After, after 10 years of government via imposition, after 10 years in which the majority, legitimately obtained, perhaps as a reaction to the non-stop (policies), and because at times the haughtiness coupled with the lack of control, many times there is a mistaken reaction simply because someone else is bigger when it's the smaller party that has the truth on its side, but can have no impact," said Lacalle Pou.
    Lacalle Pou has run on a platform of clamping down on crime, cutting taxes and education reform.
    "And so that's why on Sunday, we are going to have to start to get used people again not simply handing all power over to just one side. They are going to demand the political leadership have a working conversation," he said.
    The avid surfer who started a political career in the Chamber of Deputies at just 26-years old, aims to give a fresh face to Uruguayan conservatism and put an end to 10 years of leftist Broad Front rule.
    Lacalle Pou has also said that he would try to repeal much of the country's ground-breaking marijuana law ushered in by President Mujica which permits the commercial production and sale of the drug. He also slammed Mujica - who is constitutionally barred from running for a second term - for his controversial proposal to grant asylum to six Guantanamo Bay detainees.
    But speaking at the equally boisterous rally in Montevideo, Vazquez was hoping to ride the wave of success of the ruling party.
    "When the people are singing and smiling it's because everyone is happy, and that's not how it was only 10 years ago. Uruguay was a sad, grey country. People didn't see the light at the end of the tunnel to have any hope for the future. But our Broad Front movement arrived in office, things have changed, and here we are, and here is the happiness. Thank you so much my friends. Thank you from my heart," he said.
    Vazquez previously served as president of Uruguay from 2005 to 2010 and presided over an expansion of the welfare state.
    He promised to continue to try and represent a broad swath of Uruguayans.
    "Because the final goal is not far off. Because we want a Uruguay that is better for all Uruguayans, because we want Uruguay to advance for all Uruguayans. We want a country with development, as (Vice Presidential candidate) Raul (Sendic) said. We've gone far and wide in every place in this country talking about the this political movement's programme. We've been talking about the first ten actions we will move forward with for the third Broad Front government, because next October 26, in spite of whoever might not like it, the Broad Front is going to win, and with a majority in Parliament," he said.
    With both Lacalle Pou and Vazquez projected to fall short of the absolute majority needed for a first-round victory on Sunday (October 26), many expect the real electoral drama to be played out during a tight November 30th runoff.
    If Lacalle Pou does make it to a runoff scenario as predicted, support from Pedro Bordaberry, the son of a former Uruguayan dictator, and his right-wing Colorado party will be key in securing his presidency.

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