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Center-left candidate Yamandu Orsi from the Broad Front party won Uruguay’s Presidential election following a second round run-off vote, official results showed.
Orsi’s party defeated Alvaro Delgado, the candidate from the current ruling center-right government party, the National Party.
Delgado conceded as around 95% of the votes were counted, which saw nearly 90% of voters turn out, according to preliminary data released by the Electoral Court.
What did Orsi say?
Orsi secured some 49.77% of the vote, confirming pre-election polls which projected him as a favorite, while Delgado secured around 45.95%.
“The country of liberty, equality and fraternity has triumphed once again,” Orsi said in a victory speech.
“Let’s understand that there is another part of our country who have different feelings today,” he added. “These people will also have to help build a better country. We need them too.”
Meanwhile, Delgado told supporters at his campaign headquarters in the capital of Montevideo: “With sadness, but without guilt, we can congratulate the winner.”
Smooth transition promised
Current President Luis Lacalle Pou, whose victory in 2019 ended the center-left Broad Front party’s 15-year consecutive rule, took to social media platform X to promise a smooth transition.
“I called Yamandú Orsi to congratulate him as President-elect of our country,” Pou wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
He added he would “put myself at his service and begin the transition as soon as I deem it appropriate.”
In the lead up to the election, issues such as years of sluggish economic growth, stagnant wages and the government’s struggle to stem an upsurge in violent crime were key points of contention for voters.
km/rmt (AP, AFP, Reuters)