URUGUAY: Uruguayan opposition candidate Luis Lacalle Pou casts vote

Record ID: 351683

  • Title: URUGUAY: Uruguayan opposition candidate Luis Lacalle Pou casts vote
  • Date: 26th October 2014
  • Summary: CANELONES, URUGUAY (OCTOBER 26, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF EXTERIOR OF POLLING STATION WHERE OPPOSITION CANDIDATE LUIS LACALLE POU OF NATIONAL PARTY (PARTIDO NACIONAL) IS GOING TO VOTE STAND IN FRONT OF POLLING STATION WITH NATIONAL PARTY SIGN LACALLE POU GREETING VOTER WHO JUST SUBMITTED BALLOT 4 .CLOSEUP OF LACALLES POU VOTING REGISTRATION LACALLE POU HOLDING ENVELOPE AN
  • Embargoed: 10th November 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Uruguay
  • Country: Uruguay
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA1C41GVTVW1ZX9ZN6GWVBLKK2P
  • Story Text: Uruguayan presidential hopeful Luis Lacalle Pou from the right-leaning National Party casts his vote with hopes of leading country in a shift to the right after 10 years of leftist rule.
    As Uruguayans voted for their next president on Sunday (October 26), all eyes were on leading opposition candidate Luis Lacalle Pou and his conservative National Party (Partido Nacional) as he arrived to his polling station in the city of Canelones, located 45 km (28 miles) north of the country capital of Montevideo.
    Lacalle Pou's popularity has surged in recent months and he is expected to threaten Jose Mujica's ruling leftist Broad Front (Frente Amplio) coalition. As a result, Lacalle Pou is expected to enter a runoff on November 30 with Broad Front (Frente Amplio) candidate and one-time Uruguayan president, Tabare Vazquez.
    "(I vote) with the same calm and excitement that I've had for many years, obviously now carrying the responsibility on my shoulders, as the leader of the National Party. We are obviously hoping for a peaceful vote tonight, with a calmness in the manner way that we carried out our campaign. We haven't raised our voices, if you will, and that has been our tone. We've have talked about our agenda, not about the agenda of others (parties). We are very calm and its very important, as I always say to the young people who work with us: the path that we choose to get to a destination will later legitimize our actions. And since we've conducted this campaign just as we wanted, we are very happy and satisfied," said the 41-year-old lawyer.
    The son of former right-wing president Luis Alberto Lacalle, Lacalle Pou has managed to shed some of his 'daddy's boy' image with a slick campaign that has won over supporters in the small South American nation.
    Lacalle Pou has tapped into a vein of discontent toward the far-reaching social reforms such as the legalization of abortion and gay marriage that were put into law under Broad Front rule.
    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 could be be key to securing victory.
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