URUGUAY-ELECTION/CAMPAIGN CLOSE Uruguay's Vazquez set to extend leftist coalition's run in power

Record ID: 347236

  • Title: URUGUAY-ELECTION/CAMPAIGN CLOSE Uruguay's Vazquez set to extend leftist coalition's run in power
  • Date: 28th November 2014
  • Summary: VIEW OF CHILDREN WITH FLAGS PEOPLE APPLAUDING ESTRADO WITH LACALLE POU AND JORGE LARRANAGA
  • Embargoed: 13th December 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Uruguay
  • Country: Uruguay
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA5A00I8GUJE5CRAJ1RRU8NMVX1
  • Story Text: Former leader Tabare Vazquez is on track to win Uruguay's presidential election runoff on Sunday (November 30), paving the way for the roll-out of a groundbreaking law that legalizes the production and sale of marijuana.
    Opinion polls show the leftist Vazquez, who was president in 2005-2010, comfortably beating Luis Lacalle Pou of the center-right National Party.
    During a closing campaign rally in the capital city, Montevideo, on Thursday (November 27) night Vazquez promised policies to improve quality of life to a cheering crowd.
    "Today, the Broad Front promises before you all to carry the government forward to continue advancing in the quality of life of all Uruguayans, to give a dignified life to all Uruguayans, for all Uruguayans, for those who vote for us and for those who don't vote for us and for those who criticise us but are benefiting from the government policies of this political force," he said.
    A Vazquez victory would give the ruling Broad Front coalition its third consecutive term in office. His campaign has been buoyed by national affection for outgoing President Jose Mujica and a decade of healthy economic growth.
    Vazquez, 74, created jobs and cut poverty levels with pro-market economic policies and strong social programs in his first term, a record that resonated with the electorate in this campaign.
    During his final rally on the campaign trail, Vazquez assured voters that a dream country can only happen under a Broad Front rule.
    "If we win on November 30, which is what we are going to do and we will fulfill and develop our projects, our programme, Uruguay will advance toward the dream we have, and if not (if the Broad Front doesn't win) the country of our dreams which we want to build will not exist," he said.
    Meanwhile, Lacalle Pou, 41, addressed supporters some 130 kilometres (80 miles) east of Montevideo in the coastal city of Maldonado, during which he emphasized economic independence from nations he says have regimes.
    "Freedom is also achieved with the capacity those who govern have to walk with Uruguay's little suitcase the length and width of the entire world to be able to commercialize our goods and services, and not be tied without independence of regimes that are supposedly our friends. We have ideologies that is made by our freedoms. Foreign relations representing the nation and not interests that are partisan, political, or that favour cheap oil," Lacalle Pou said.
    The young candidate said relations must be quickly repaired with neighboring Argentina.
    "If it is our turn to be elected, we will send a delegation to Argentina to renew normal relations between the two countries, which have much more in common than differences, no matter who is governing," he said.
    An Equipos poll on Wednesday showed Vazquez with 54.5 percent support and Lacalle Pou 40 percent. Another poll, by Cifra, showed 54.8 percent and 40.4 percent, respectively.
    Vazquez led the Broad Front to power 10 years ago and the cattle-farming South American nation's economy has since grown an average 5.7 percent annually.
    Unable to run for a second consecutive term, Vazquez stepped down in 2010 with approval ratings hitting 70 percent.
    His successor was Mujica, a straight-talking former guerrilla known affectionately as "Pepe" and popular both for his modest lifestyle and management of the $55 billion economy.
    Mujica did, however, test the patience of more conservative voters in the country of 3.4 million people by legalizing gay marriage, abortion and the marijuana trade.
    Vazquez, who vetoed the proposed legalization of abortion during his first term, is seen as less radical.
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