URUGUAY-ELECTION/RESULTS Uruguayan ruling party's Vazquez wins presidential election

Record ID: 351705

  • Title: URUGUAY-ELECTION/RESULTS Uruguayan ruling party's Vazquez wins presidential election
  • Date: 1st December 2014
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF PEOPLE AND TAZQUEZ CELEBRATING VICTORY
  • Embargoed: 16th December 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Uruguay
  • Country: Uruguay
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA24OZVWYZYDAO1GIKK370F9XFW
  • Story Text: Tabare Vazquez won back his old job as president of Uruguay in a runoff election on Sunday (November 30), extending the decade-long rule of a leftist coalition and allowing it to roll out a groundbreaking law that legalizes the production and sale of marijuana.
    Vazquez won comfortably with 52.8 percent support while his center-right challenger, Luis Lacalle Pou, trailed on 40.5 percent, official results showed late on Sunday night.
    Vazquez, 74, is a respected oncologist who helped heal rifts inside the Broad Front in the late 1990s and led it to power in 2005, ending two decades of conservative rule that followed a military dictatorship.
    "I want to emphasize our pride in being part of this dear Uruguayan nation that one more time demonstrated its love for democracy, respect, tolerance, and made this day into a beautiful civic exercise for all Uruguayans no matter their political stripe. Many thanks for all you have given," he said at a victory rally in Montevideo.
    When he was president from 2005 to 2010, his mix of welfare programs and pro-business policies helped kick-start a decade of robust growth and slash poverty.
    Returning to power, he will succeed President Jose Mujica, an ally and former guerrilla whose straight-talking, unpretentious style won him widespread affection in the cattle-farming country of 3.4 million people.
    "All Uruguayans, we are all going to move this country forward together, with greater liberty, more justice, increased solidarity, more fraternity, more respect, greater social justice, greater love among all Uruguayans. That is the objective that we all share, and we know with your support we will succeed."
    Vazquez will need to address rising crime and education, both major concerns of voters. He promises to increase spending on schools while cutting wasteful government spending.
    He will also oversee Uruguay's legalization of the state-controlled production, distribution and sale of cannabis.
    Vazquez, who lacks Mujica's folksy charisma, endorsed the cannabis law but was less enthusiastic about it than the outgoing president and has said he might modify it, depending on its impact.
    Mujica's reforms to legalize gay marriage and abortion as well as marijuana cemented Uruguay's reputation as one of Latin America's most liberal nations, but upset conservative voters.
    Lacalle Pou, 41, had threatened to repeal much of the legislation if he was elected president, but he struggled to connect with working-class and rural voters.
    "A few minutes ago, I called Tabare Vazquez to concede and congratulate him on his legitimate triumph in this election and to wish him the best success," he made clear during a concession speech at the NH hotel in Montevideo.
    He underscored his respect for the will of a people in a region not a half-century removed from rule by military dictatorship.
    "We are not those partisans (who say) the majority has erred. That majority has spoken and the politicians must obey. It's the only way to be," he said.
    The Broad Front narrowly won a majority in Congress in legislative elections last month, meaning Vazquez will be in firm control when his term begins on March 1.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: Audio restrictions: This clip's Audio includes copyrighted material. User is responsible for obtaining additional clearances before publishing the audio contained in this clip.
Register