By Lucinda Elliott
MONTEVIDEO/TREINTA Y TRES (Reuters) -Early exit polls after Uruguay’s presidential election on Sunday suggest the center-left opposition candidate Yamandu Orsi was ahead of his conservative rival, Alvaro Delgado, with a second round likely needed in November for a head-to-head photo finish.
Uruguay’s race between two centrist candidates bucks a Latin America trend of sharp right-left divides, with significant overlap between the major conservative and liberal coalitions taking some of the sting out of the result.
If no presidential candidate gets more than 50% of the vote on Sunday, a second round will be held on Nov. 24.
The nation of 3.4 million, known for its beaches, legalized marijuana and stability, also voted for its next vice president and members of parliament.
Vote counting was also underway for two referendums – one on a pension reform that would lower the retirement age by five years to 60 and another that would boost police powers to fight drug-related crime.
Uruguayans appeared to reject the pension reform, two early exit polls showed on Sunday, defusing fears from investors and politicians that it could hurt the economy. According to local pollsters Cifra and Equipos Consultores, 61% of eligible voters struck down the proposal, versus 39% who voted in favor.
The security referendum also failed, according to Equipos Consultores, securing less than 40% support.
The vote in the small South American nation saw Broad Front center-left candidate Orsi, the pre-election favorite, take on continuity contender Delgado. Behind them was young, social media savvy conservative Andres Ojeda, who addressed reporters outside his local gym on election day.
As polling stations closed on Sunday, hundreds of Broad Front supporters in capital Montevideo, where residents have historically supported the center-left, gathered by a stage overlooking the city’s waterfront to await the results.
Maria Gonzalez, 61, who voted for the Broad Front, said people were in “tremendous need” and that the current government had failed to address issues related to housing, education and healthcare.
Orsi said the Broad Front had arrived at the election “with more strength,” addressing journalists on Sunday morning at a polling station. “I’m from the neighborhood, I’m from this city and I feel increasingly proud to be Uruguayan.”
In Treinta y Tres, a rural region of eastern Uruguay that has traditionally voted conservative, 60-year-old farm worker Ramon Silveira, who cast his ballot for Delgado, said: “I want the trend of the last five years to continue.”
While security was an area the ruling coalition could improve on, Silveira was confident that with more time in government, crime rates would come down.
REFERENDUMS
A calm day of voting was, however, overshadowed by tensions around the two binding plebiscites – one to overhaul Uruguay’s $22.5-billion private pension system and lower the retirement age and the other on allowing nighttime police raids on homes.
The pension reform proposal has drawn criticism from politicians across the aisle who say it could hurt the economy.
Laura Mesa, a 35-year-old cook, is in favor of a lower retirement age. “We work all our lives. The retirement age should be shorter so we can enjoy it!” she said from a polling station in Treinta y Tres.
But Jesus Collazo, 22, was less convinced. He said: “I agree with some aspects like lowering the retirement age, but I keep thinking: What are they going to do to replace all this private pension money? Will they make us pay taxes?”
Uruguayans also voted on whether to remove constitutional curbs on nighttime police raids targeting private homes as a way to combat drug-related crime, a rising concern for voters. Both referendums require simple majorities to pass.
“We must take control of our safety,” Orsi told a campaign rally this week, pledging to be tough on crime.
The ruling conservative coalition is struggling to defend its security record, but hopes successes on the economy – with both employment and real salaries now on the rise – may be enough to convince voters to choose continuity over change.
“I’m convinced that all the work we’ve done and what we represent is going to turn out well,” Delgado said as polls opened on Sunday.
