URUGUAY-ELECTION/VAZQUEZ Uruguay’s ruling Broad Front coalition prepares for tight election battle

Record ID: 351678

  • Title: URUGUAY-ELECTION/VAZQUEZ Uruguay’s ruling Broad Front coalition prepares for tight election battle
  • Date: 24th October 2014
  • Summary: MONTEVIDEO, URUGUAY (RECENT - OCTOBER 16, 2014) (REUTERS) DISTRIBUTION OF BROAD FRONT FLYERS IN PLAZA LIBERTAD
  • Embargoed: 8th November 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Uruguay
  • Country: Uruguay
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA5QHZI0LAIN0TBNV1ID2QIRQB
  • Story Text: As Uruguayans prepare to go the polls for the first round of voting on Sunday (October 26), the ruling Broad Front's candidate, Tabare Vazquez, and running-mate Raul Sendic are preparing for a protracted battle.
    While polls show the former president winning the first round against leading opposition candidate Luis Lacalle Pou, Vazquez is expected to fall short of the absolute majority needed for an outright victory.
    This means he will likely be facing his centre-right rival in a neck and neck November 30 runoff.
    Vazquez's Broad Front coalition has been at the helm since he first became president in 2005, where he became known as the country's first leftist head of state. Uruguay's current president, Jose Mujica, took over the reins in 2010 but, like his predecessor, is constitutionally barred from serving a second consecutive term.
    "We don't want a vote of gratitude because that's not the Front's objective because we have achieved what we had to achieve, it's the commitment our political party assumed. And there is no reason to thank us. What we are asking for is a vote of confidence, a vote of confidence in this political force that wants to move forward, that wants more and better education, more and better security, more and better housing, more and improved quality of life for all Uruguayans," said Vazquez, a doctor by training.
    A popular leader during his first mandate, Vazquez pursued a centre-left agenda, combining social welfare reforms with pro-business economic policies.
    The 74-year-old oncologist has focused his current campaign on consolidating and reviving the coalition.
    "For example, yesterday in the city of Buenos Aires when our compatriots were at our side and when we were talking they declared, "We'll cross swimming if we have to, but on the 26th we Uruguayans will be voting for the Broad Front'. And this is the mysticism of our political force. This is what was almost lying dormant but has now been revived with spectacular force. A month and a half ago or two months ago we said that the Front had taken off and now nobody can stop this political force in the country," said Vazquez, who served as mayor of Montevideo from 1990 to 1995.
    With more conservative policies in office than ex-guerrilla Mujica, Vazquez caused an upset within his party in 2008 when he vetoed a law to legalise abortion. The restriction was upended when Mujica's administration legalised abortion four years later in 2012.
    Yet support for Vazquez may have been dented by his endorsement of some controversial positions taken by Mujica that many Uruguayans oppose, like the proposal to accept six Guantanamo Bay prisoners and the legalisation of the cultivation and sale of marijuana.
    Vazquez, who was born into a humble neighbourhood in the nation's capital, has said a third left-wing administration would improve conditions for the most vulnerable, including a $775 million dollar program to sponsor full-time caregivers for the sick. He pledges to maintain Mujica's contractionary monetary policy, but has not detailed how he would rein in inflation, which stands at 9 percent.
    He pledges to cut the above-target fiscal deficit, which stands at 3.3 percent of gross domestic product, by cutting wasteful government spending and has ruled out new taxes or a sharp fiscal adjustment.
    But, for the married father of four to have the opportunity to put his words into action with a second term, he'll most likely face a drawn-out electoral contest that will continue until next month's runoff results are tallied.
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