Uruguayans headed to the polls Sunday, with the leftist alliance of celebrated ex-president Jose “Pepe” Mujica hoping to reclaim the country’s top job five years after a right-wing victory driven by concerns over crime and taxes.
Former history teacher Yamandu Orsi of the leftist Frente Amplio (Broad Front) is going head-to-head with ex-veterinarian Alvaro Delgado of the National Party, a member of outgoing President Luis Lacalle Pou’s centre-right Republican Coalition.
Orsi, 57, is seen as the understudy of 89-year-old Mujica, a former guerrilla lionized as “the world’s poorest president” during his 2010-2015 rule because of his modest lifestyle.
Orsi had garnered 43.9 per cent of the October 27 first-round vote – short of the 50-per cent cutoff to avoid a runoff but ahead of the 26.7 per cent of ballots cast for Delgado, 55.
The pair came out on top of a crowded field of 11 candidates seeking to replace Lacalle Pou, who has a high approval rating but is barred constitutionally from seeking a second consecutive term.
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