By Lucinda Elliott
MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) – Voters in South America’s laid-back Uruguay, known for its beaches, legalized marijuana and stability, will head to the polls on Sunday in an election race between moderates that is a far cry from the political hostility in most of its neighbors.
The country of 3.4 million people will vote for its next president and lawmakers, with pollsters predicting a likely run-off will be needed in November. More tense are plebiscite votes on divisive pension reforms and boosting police powers.
But unlike sharp right-left divides in Argentina, Brazil or Mexico, Uruguay’s political arena is relatively tension-free, with significant overlap between the major conservative and liberal coalitions taking some of the sting out of the result.
“The two main camps are more or less the same in terms of macroeconomic policy or the vision for what Uruguay is and how to face various economic challenges,” said Uruguayan economist Maria Dolores Benavente.
The vote in the small farming nation sees Broad Front center-left candidate Yamandu Orsi, the pre-election favorite, take on continuity conservative contender Alvaro Delgado. Behind them is young social media-savvy conservative Andres Ojeda.
Polls show Orsi in the lead, but indicate no presidential candidate would likely get more than 50% of the vote, meaning a second round run-off would be held on Nov. 24 between the top two finishers on Sunday.
Ballot stations open at 7.30 a.m. (1030 GMT) and close at 7.30 p.m. local time, with results expected two hours later.
The bigger tension will be two binding plebiscites, also on Sunday. One will ask whether to overhaul Uruguay’s $22.5 billion private pension system that has drawn criticism from politicians across the aisle who say it could hurt the economy.
Uruguayans will also vote on whether to remove constitutional restrictions on nighttime police raids of private homes, as a way to combat drug-related crime, a rising concern of voters. Both referendums require simple majorities to pass.
“We must take control of our safety,” Orsi said at 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 on the rise – may be enough to convince voters to choose continuity over change.
“We have a better country than in 2019,” Delgado said in a campaign speech in the city Las Piedras, referring to the previous election. “The alternative is to go backwards.”
(Reporting by Lucinda Elliott; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Daniel Wallis)
