Uruguayans will elect their next president this Sunday, in a close runoff that could be decided by voters who opted for a radical anti-vaccine candidate and other candidates who received few votes in the first round.
The latest opinion polls before the vote suggest that there is only 25,000 votes difference between the two candidates, the center-left opposition mayor Yamandú Orsi and the conservative candidate of the ruling coalition Álvaro Delgado.
That means that voters who voted for the eliminated candidates in the first round in October will be key.
Among those candidates is the anti-establishment Gustavo Salle, who rants from a megaphone against vaccines, corruption and gender identity, and wants to protect the environment. Salle obtained better results than expected in the first round, with 3% of the votes.
The country of 3.4 million inhabitants goes to the polls with a popular president, low inflation and an increase in both employment and real wages. But old concerns about high costs of living, inequality and violent crime remain.
President Luis Lacalle Pou, of Delgado’s National Party, constitutionally cannot run for immediate re-election.
“There is little indication that voters are clamoring for meaningful political change,” said Uruguayan analyst Nicolás Saldías of the Economist Intelligence Unit.
The broad consensus between both sectors on issues such as the economy made it difficult for the main candidates to capture the public’s attention, Saldías added.
Both candidates hope to woo about 8% of first-round voters who didn’t vote for them, but neither has made new promises in recent weeks to woo them, and pollsters say a televised debate appears to have had little effect.
Salle, whose party won two seats in Congress, said he would not tell his supporters who to vote for.
“I’m not a general giving orders to vote,” the 66-year-old lawyer told Reuters, but added that Orsi could gain more support among his followers given his left-leaning policies such as protecting workers’ and environmental rights. atmosphere.
Salle has encouraged his followers to cast a protest vote against the “kleptocorporatocracy” and to annul their ballots.
Orsi, who has promised a “modern left,” won 43.9% of the vote in October for the Frente Amplio and will face Delgado, who won 26.8% but also has the backing of the Colorado Party, a group smaller that together with its National Party obtained almost 42% of the votes.
Neither of the two coalitions has an absolute majority in the Lower House after the October elections, which could limit the approval of more radical proposals. But the Frente Amplio won 16 of the Senate’s 30 seats, which Orsi said puts it in a better position to lead the government.
“I’m not sure I’ll vote for any of the candidates,” said Montevideo musician Nathaniel Valls, 23, who opted for Salle in the first round. “I see Orsi as much more committed to saying things he wants to do and propose.”
Javier González, 54, who voted for the Green Party in the first round, said instead that he will now support Delgado’s center-right coalition.
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