2009 Uruguayan general election

General elections were held in Uruguay on 25 October 2009 alongside a two-part referendum. As no candidate for president received more than 50% of the vote, a second round was held on 29 November between the top two candidates, José Mujica of the ruling Broad Front (who received 48% of the vote) and Luis Alberto Lacalle of the National Party (29%). Mujica won the run-off with 55% of the vote.

2009 Uruguayan general election
25 October 2009 (first round)
29 November 2009 (second round)
 
Nominee José Mujica Luis Alberto Lacalle
Party Broad Front National Party
Running mate Danilo Astori Jorge Larrañaga
Popular vote 1,197,638 994,510
Percentage 54.63% 45.37%
President before election

Tabaré Vázquez
Broad Front

 Elected President

José Mujica
Broad Front

Parliamentary election
Party Leader % Seats ±
Chamber
Broad Front José Mujica 49.34% 50 -2
National Party Luis Alberto Lacalle 29.90% 30 -6
Colorado Party Pedro Bordaberry 17.51% 17 +7
Independent Party Pablo Mieres 2.56% 2 +1
Senate
Broad Front José Mujica 49.34% 16 0
National Party Luis Alberto Lacalle 29.90% 9 -2
Colorado Party Pedro Bordaberry 17.51% 5 +2
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

In the parliamentary elections, the Broad Front won 16 of the 30 seats in the senators and 50 of the 99 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. The National Party finished second with 9 senators and 30 deputies, the Colorado Party third with 5 Senators and 17 Deputies, and the Independent Party fourth with 2 deputies.[1]

Presidential candidates

Presidential primaries were held on 28 June to select the candidates.

Party Candidate Ideology Previous result
Votes (%) Seats
Broad Front José Mujica Democratic socialism

Social democracy

 51.67%
52 / 99
16 / 30
National Party Luis Alberto Lacalle Conservatism

Christian democracy

 35.13%
36 / 99
11 / 30
Colorado Party Pedro Bordaberry Liberalism 10.61%
10 / 99
3 / 30
Independent Party Pablo Mieres Social democracy

Christian democracy

 1.90%
1 / 99
0 / 30
Popular Unity Raúl Rodríguez Marxism Did not contest

Results

Analysts indicated that Mujica won largely because of the popularity of the Broad Front and incumbent President Tabaré Vázquez's pro-business policies that had strengthened the country's economy.[2] After taking office in 2005, Vazquez cut the unemployment rate from 12.3 to 7.3 percent, encouraged trade and foreign investment, increased wages and social spending, and boosted the central bank reserves and the country's credit rating.[3]

The Broad Front retained a majority in parliament with 15 senators (plus Danilo Astori, later elected vice-president and thus president of the General Assembly) out of a total of 30 and 50 deputies out of a total of 99. The National Party came in second with 9 senators and 30 deputies. Both parties lost votes and legislative seats in comparison with 2004. The historically dominant Colorado made gains and increased its representation to 5 senators and 17 deputies. Finally, the Independent Party did not achieve its main goal of winning a seat in the Senate, but obtained 2 seats in the lower chamber.

Pedro Bordaberry led the Colorado Party to a notable electoral recovery, practically doubling its votes cast in 2004. The Independent Party, with candidates Pablo Mieres and Iván Posada, gained an additional seat in the Chamber of Deputies. Popular Assembly, a small, new extreme left party, did not win much support.

Party Presidential candidate First round Second round Seats
Votes % Votes % Chamber +/– Senate +/–
Broad FrontJosé Mujica1,105,26249.341,197,63854.6350–2160
National PartyLuis Alberto Lacalle669,94229.90994,51045.3730–69–2
Colorado PartyPedro Bordaberry392,30717.5117+75+2
Independent PartyPablo Mieres57,3602.562+100
Popular AssemblyRaúl Rodríguez15,4280.690New0New
Invalid/blank votes64,387–93,810–––––
Total2,304,6861002,285,958100990300
Source: Corte Electoral

References
  1. "Uruguayan ruling coalition retains majority in next Parliament — MercoPress". En.mercopress.com. 2009-10-27. Retrieved 2012-11-08.
  2. Farrell, Jeff (30 November 2009). "In Uruguay, former guerrilla wins by moving away from Chávez". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 1 December 2009.
  3. Orihuela, Rodrigo (November 30, 2009). "Former Uruguay Rebel Mujica Wins Presidency on Runoff". Bloomberg. Retrieved 1 December 2009.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.