Politics

Uruguay's Left Returns to Power as Orsi Takes Office

NOV 25 2024·Updated MAR 3 2025

Story

Above: Uruguay's Pres.-elect Yamandú Orsi and his running mate Carolina Cosse after the presidential runoff on Nov. 24, 2024 in Montevideo. Image credit: Guillermo Legaria/Stringer/Getty Images News via Getty Images

The Facts

Uruguay's left-wing Broad Front alliance, which ruled the country for 15 years from 2005 to 2020, has returned to power after a five-year gap as Yamandú Orsi took the presidential office on Saturday.
ap
Considered a political heir to former president and leftist icon José "Pepe" Mujica, Orsi secured 49.8% of the vote to defeat Álvaro Delgado of the National Party — part of outgoing Pres. Luis Lacalle Pou's conservative Republican Coalition — in a runoff election last November.
Al Jazeera
Bloomberg.com
According to the country's electoral court, the difference between both candidates in absolute numbers was a little more than 95K votes. Turnout was at nearly 90% of the 2.7M eligible voters.
ap
Buenos Aires Times
Orsi had already finished first in the initial round on Oct. 27, securing 43.9% of the vote — far ahead of Delgado's 26.7%, but short of the simple majority required to avoid a runoff.
Buenos Aires Times
Bloomberg.com
He will govern with a two-member majority in the Senate — as Vice Pres. Carolina Cosse occupies the chamber's 31st seat — and with a hung Chamber of Representatives in which the Republican Coalition is the largest party.
AS/COA
In October, Uruguayans also voted in two binding plebiscites — one to lower the retirement age to 60 years and raise pensions, and another to boost police powers to fight drug-related crimes. Both were rejected.
Reuters
www.ft.com

Sources Split

LEFT

CENTER

RIGHT

ESTAB
CRIT

CENTER

PRO
ESTAB

The Spin

Left narrative

After five years of conservative rule, the left-wing Broad Front is back to power amid perceived economic stagnation. This outcome is even more remarkable against the backdrop of a populist trend that, in the past year, has seen Javier Milei elected in neighboring Argentina and Donald Trump elected in the US.

EL PAÍS English

Right narrative

As Uruguayans headed to the polls to cast a vote for their next president, they decided which path the nation would take in the coming years — that of stability, security, and fiscal responsibility, or that of populist promises and soft-on-crime policies. Sadly, the country ended up choosing the latter.