Reuters, Xinhua, Afp and Ap
La Jornada Newspaper
Sunday, October 27, 2024, p. 19
Montevideo. Uruguay celebrates today the first round of its presidential and parliamentary elections in which 2.7 million people are called to the polls, elections in which the center-left opposition is the favorite in the polls, with voters concentrated in a plebiscite on retirements and concerned about the increase in crime.
The main candidates are: Yamandú Orsi, from the leftist Frente Amplio, with 45 percent of voting intention according to the most recent polls; Álvaro Delgado, from the ruling National Party, with 25 percent of possible votes; Andrés Ojeda of the Colorado Party, with 16 percent of respondents in his favor, whom they compare with the Argentine president, Javier Milei, for his rapid and surprising rise, a parallel that affirms falls well.
The favorite is a mujiquista
Yamandú Ramón Antonio Orsi Martínez, 57, is the dolphin of the popular former president José Mujica, who was born in a rural area, in a house without electricity, and grew up in the small city of Canelones.
In 1991 he graduated as a history teacher and taught in high schools in the interior until 2005, when he began his career in the Canelones government, first as general secretary of the commune for almost a decade, and then as mayor for two terms.
Álvaro Delgado, one of the best-known faces of the current government office, is a trained veterinarian, won his party’s primary elections in June and now aspires to guarantee the continuity of the legacy of the ruling party.
The center-right party won its first mandate in 2019 after 15 years of left-wing hegemony.
The candidate Andrés Ojeda Spitz, 40, became a television figure as a commentator on legal issues after being the defense lawyer of former Tupamaro leader Héctor Amodio Pérez in 2015.
Ojeda surprised by winning the election in June of the historic Colorado Party, to which he has been affiliated since 2002 and of which he was mayor of Montevideo from 2010 to 2015. The Ministry of the Interior reported that almost 7,000 police officers will monitor the elections.
