2019 Uruguayan general election explained

Country:	Uruguay
Previous Election:	2014 Uruguayan presidential election
Previous Year:	2014
Next Election:	2024 Uruguayan general election
Next Year:	2024
Election Date:	27 October 2019 (first round)
Registered:	2,669,980
Turnout:	90.13% (first round) 0.38pp 90.12% (second round) 1.54pp
Module:	Embed: yes Election Name: Presidential election Type: presidential Image1: Lacalle Pou 2019.jpg Nominee1: Luis Lacalle Pou Party1: National Party (Uruguay) Alliance1: Coalición Multicolor Running Mate1: Beatriz Argimón Popular Vote1: 1,189,313 Percentage1: 50.79% Nominee2: Daniel Martínez Party2: Socialist Party Alliance2: Broad Front (Uruguay) Running Mate2: Graciela Villar Popular Vote2: 1,152,271 Percentage2: 49.21% President Before Election: Tabaré Vázquez Before Party: Broad Front (Uruguay) After Election: Luis Lacalle Pou After Party: National Party (Uruguay) Module: Embed: yes Election Name: Parliamentary election Seats For Election: All 99 seats in the Chamber of Representatives All 30 seats in the Senate Heading1: Chamber of Representatives Party1: Broad Front (Uruguay) Percentage1: 40.49 Seats1: 42 Last Election1: 50 Party2: National Party (Uruguay) Percentage2: 29.70 Seats2: 30 Last Election2: 32 Party3: Colorado Party (Uruguay) Percentage3: 12.80 Seats3: 13 Last Election3: 13 Party4: Open Cabildo (Uruguay) Percentage4: 11.46 Seats4: 11 Last Election4: new Color4: FBC22B Party5: Partido Ecologista Radical Intransigente Percentage5: 1.43 Seats5: 1 Last Election5: 0 Party6: Partido de la Gente Percentage6: 1.12 Seats6: 1 Last Election6: new Color6: 92D050 Party7: Independent Party (Uruguay) Percentage7: 1.01 Seats7: 1 Last Election7: 3 Heading8: Senate Party8: Broad Front (Uruguay) Percentage8: 40.49 Seats8: 13 Last Election8: 15 Party9: National Party (Uruguay) Percentage9: 29.70 Seats9: 10 Last Election9: 10 Party10: Colorado Party (Uruguay) Percentage10: 12.80 Seats10: 4 Last Election10: 4 Party11: Open Cabildo (Uruguay) Percentage11: 11.46 Seats11: 3 Last Election11: new Color11: FBC22B

General elections were held in Uruguay on Sunday, 27 October 2019 to elect the President and General Assembly. As no presidential candidate received a majority in the first round of voting, a runoff election took place on 24 November.

In the 2014 elections, the left-wing Broad Front had won a third consecutive election with absolute majorities in both houses of the General Assembly. The Broad Front's term in office еarned support through the creation of a large welfare system, but at the same time was undermined by an increasing budget deficit, along with rising unemployment and a spike in violence. The election campaign focused primarily around the issue of crime, with each party proposing different solutions. A constitutional referendum on amendments proposed by opposition senator Jorge Larrañaga was held alongside the elections. The amendments proposed the introduction of a National Guard and tougher security measures.^{[1] [2]}

As incumbent president Tabaré Vázquez was unable to seek re-election due to constitutional term limits, the Broad Front nominated former Montevideo mayor Daniel Martínez as its presidential candidate. The National Party nominated its 2014 candidate Luis Lacalle Pou, the Colorado Party nominated the economist Ernesto Talvi, and the new Open Cabildo party nominated former commander-in-chief of the Uruguayan Army, Guido Manini Ríos.

Heading into the elections, most opinion polls predicted a run-off between Martínez and Lacalle Pou, along with the loss of the Broad Front's congressional majority and the growth of Open Cabildo. In the first round of voting, the Broad Front saw its worst results since the 1999 elections, but Martínez still received the most votes in the 11-candidate field and qualified for the runoff along with Lacalle Pou, who subsequently received support from most of the eliminated opposition parties.^[3] In the runoff, Lacalle Pou defeated Martínez by just over 37,000 votes in a tight race, with the final result only declared after the counting of absentee ballots. Martinez conceded defeat four days after the election, saying that the outstanding absentee ballots would not be enough to overcome Lacalle Pou's lead in preliminary results.^[4]

The elections marked the first loss for the Broad Front in a presidential election since 1999, with Lacalle Pou becoming the first National Party president since his father, Luis Alberto Lacalle de Herrera, who held office from 1990 to 1995.

Background

The 2014 elections had resulted in a third consecutive victory for the Broad Front. Former president Tabaré Vázquez was returned to office for a second non-consecutive term, having previously served as president from 2004 to 2009. The Broad Front also won an absolute majority in the General Assembly. Vázquez was ineligible to run again due to constitutional term limits. As a result, the governing Broad Front had to nominate a new candidate.

The economy had seen continued growth since 2003, allowing the government to invest heavily in social programs, pensions and health care. However, improved poverty and inequality ratios came at the cost of a budget deficit that reached 4.8 percent of GDP by the end of August 2019. According to political analysts, the Broad Front was predicted to lose its congressional majority, which combined with an increase in the number of parties expected to win seats in Congress, would make coalition negotiations difficult.^[5]

Electoral system

The elections were held using the double simultaneous vote method, whereby voters cast a single vote for the party of their choice for all three of the Presidency, the Senate and the Chamber of Representatives.

The President of Uruguay was elected using the two-round system, with a run-off held when no candidate received 50% of the vote in the first round. The 30 members of the Senate were elected by proportional representation in a single nationwide constituency. The vice president, elected on the same ballot as the president, becomes president of the Senate, with their vote being the casting one when Senate votes are tied.^[6] The 99 members of the Chamber of Representatives were elected by closed list proportional representation in 19 multi-member constituencies based on the departments. Seats were allocated using the highest averages method.^[7]

Presidential candidates

Presidential primaries were held on 30 June to select the candidates:^[8]

Party		Candidate		Ideology	Previous result
					Votes (%)	Seats
	Broad Front		Daniel Martínez	Social democracy Democratic socialism	47.81%
	National Party		Luis Lacalle Pou	Conservatism Christian democracy	30.88%
	Colorado Party		Ernesto Talvi	Liberalism	12.89%
	Independent Party		Pablo Mieres	Christian humanism Christian democracy	3.09%
	Popular Unity		Gonzalo Abella	Marxism	1.13%
	Partido Ecologista Radical Intransigente		César Vega	Green liberalism	0.75%
	Workers' Party		Rafael Fernández	Trotskyism	0.14%
	Party of the Folk		Edgardo Novick	Conservative liberalism Neoliberalism	Did not contest
	Green Animalist Party		Gustavo Salle	Green politics
	Digital Party		Daniel Goldman	E-democracy
	Open Cabildo		Guido Manini Ríos	Right-wing populism National conservatism

Campaign slogans

Candidate		Party	Original slogan	English translation	Ref
	Daniel Martínez	Broad Front	No perder lo Bueno, hacerlo mejor	"Don't lose what is good, improve it"	^[9]
	Luis Lacalle Pou	National Party	Lo que nos une	"What unites us"	^[10]
	Ernesto Talvi	Colorado Party	Un pequeño país modelo	"A small model country"	^[11]
	Edgardo Novick	Party of the Folk	Tolerancia Cero	"Zero Tolerance"	^[12]

Opinion polls

Polling firm	Fieldwork date	FA	PN	PC	CA	PG	PI	Others	Blank/	Undecided	Lead
		data-sort-type="number" style="background:"		data-sort-type="number" style="background:"		data-sort-type="number" style="background:"						data-sort-type="number" style="background:#FBC22B"		data-sort-type="number" style="background:#92D050"		data-sort-type="number" style="background:"
Opción Consultores^[13]	October 2019	33%	25%	10%	12%		1%				8%
Radar^[14]	October 2019	39%	21%	16%	12%	0.8%	1.1%				8%
Opción Consultores^[15]	September 2019	29%	24%	15%	12%	2%	2%				8%
Factum^[16]	August 2019	37%	26%	19%	9%	2%	2%	18%			7%
Cifra^[17]	February 2019	34%	27%	14%	3%	2%	-	2%	18%	-	7%
Factum^[18]	February 2019	38%	30%	16%	5%	4%	2%		5%		8%
Radar^[19]	January/February 2019	37%	28%	13%	3%	2%	1%	2%	7%	7%	9%
Radar^[20]	December 2018	33%	27%	12%	4%	3%	1%		9%	9%	6%
Opción Consultores^[21]	December 2018	26%	27%	12%	5%	5%	2%.		11%	12%	1%
Equipos^[22]	December 2018	30%	34%	11%	1%	2%	1%	1%	7%	13%	4%
Factum^[23]	November 2018	34%	30%	16%	7%	6%	2%		5%		4%
Radar^[24]	November 2018	32%	26%	13%	4%	3%		2%	10%	10%	6%
Cifra^[25]	October 2018	36%	31%	9%	5%	6%	3%		10%		5%
Factum^[26]	August 2018	34%	30%	12%	7%	6%	2%		9%		4%
Radar^[27]	August 2018	30%	30%	8%	6%	2%	3%		11%	10%
Cifra^[28]	August 2018	27%	26%	4%	3%	4%	1%		35%		1%
Opción Consultores^[29]	July 2018	28%	31%	9%	8%	4%	2%		8%	10%	3%
Radar^[30]	February 2018	33%	28%	7%	2%	2%		3%	11%	13%	5%
Factum^[31]	April 2017	31%	30%	6%	9%	4%	2%		18%		1%

Results

On 25 November, preliminary results in the runoff election showed Lacalle Pou narrowly ahead by 28,666 votes over Martínez, which delayed the announcement of a winner as 35,229 absentee vote needed to be counted.^{[32] [4]} However, on 28 November, while these ballots were still being counted, Martínez conceded the race after concluding that they would not reverse Lacalle Pou's preliminary lead.^[4] On 30 November, final votes counts confirmed Lacalle Pou as the winner over Martínez.^[33]

By department

First round & parliamentary election

Constituency	Broad Front			National Party			Colorado Party			Open Cabildo			PERI			Party of the Folk			Independent Party			Others		Valid votes		Invalid votes
	data-sort-type="number"	Votes	data-sort-type="number"	%	D	data-sort-type="number"	Votes	data-sort-type="number"	%	D	data-sort-type="number"	Votes	data-sort-type="number"	%	D	data-sort-type="number"	Votes	data-sort-type="number"	%	D	data-sort-type="number"	Votes	%	data-sort-type="number"	D	data-sort-type="number"	Votes	%	data-sort-type="number"	D	Votes	%	D	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%
Artigas	15,046	26.6	1	24,224	42.9	1	4,813	8.5	0	10,084	17.8	0	185	0.3	0	139	0.2	0	151	0.3	0	358	0.6	55,000	97.4	1,496	2.6
Canelones	158,221	42.8	7	101,417	27.4	4	35,177	9.5	2	35,202	9.5	2	6,409	1.7	0	5,347	1.4	0	3,601	1.0	0	7,557	2.0	352,931	95.5	16,639	4.5
Cerro Largo	19,895	29.5	1	26,215	38.9	1	5,257	7.8	0	12,232	18.1	1	317	0.5	0	401	0.6	0	259	0.4	0	647	1.0	65,223	96.7	2,227	3.3
Colonia	34,068	34.9	1	32,691	33.5	1	15,750	16.2	1	7,099	7.3	0	958	1.0	0	1,104	1.1	0	879	0.9	0	1,098	1.1	93,647	96.1	3,835	3.9
Durazno	13,087	28.0	1	16,577	35.5	1	5,852	12.5	0	8,135	17.4	0	275	0.6	0	258	0.6	0	325	0.7	0	703	1.5	45,212	96.9	1,460	3.1
Flores	5,308	25.4	1	7,357	35.3	1	4,055	19.4	0	2,874	13.8	0	134	0.6	0	204	1.0	0	116	0.6	0	187	0.9	20,235	97.0	635	3.0
Florida	17,267	32.1	1	18,809	35.0	1	7,919	14.7	0	5,611	10.4	0	359	0.7	0	454	0.8	0	405	0.8	0	930	1.7	51,754	96.3	2,012	3.7
Lavalleja	11,856	24.7	1	17,608	36.7	1	8,198	17.1	0	7,024	14.6	0	491	1.0	0	325	0.7	0	377	0.8	0	478	1.0	46,357	96.6	1,636	3.4
Maldonado	37,496	29.1	1	47,339	36.7	2	15,281	11.9	1	15,751	12.2	1	2,782	2.2	0	1,229	1.0	0	1,437	1.1	0	2,648	2.1	123,963	96.2	4,863	3.8
Montevideo	438,839	47.4	19	214,675	23.2	9	98,559	10.6	5	76,410	8.3	4	15,978	1.7	1	11,715	1.3	1	12,415	1.3	1	24,768	2.7	893,359	96.5	32,342	3.5
Paysandú	32,698	37.8	1	28,971	33.5	1	11,378	13.1	1	6,919	8.0	0	1,154	1.3	0	701	0.8	0	509	0.6	0	1,309	1.5	83,639	96.6	2,926	3.4
Rio Negro	14,263	34.0	1	13,546	32.3	1	6,816	16.2	0	4,604	11.0	0	325	0.8	0	224	0.5	0	286	0.7	0	439	1.0	40,503	96.6	1,446	3.4
Rivera	15,274	19.2	0	20,419	25.7	1	21,256	26.7	1	18,948	23.8	1	181	0.2	0	231	0.3	0	261	0.3	0	717	0.9	77,287	97.2	2,230	2.8
Rocha	18,903	32.8	1	17,317	30.1	1	5,788	10.1	0	10,553	18.3	0	919	1.6	0	348	0.6	0	310	0.5	0	1,055	1.8	55,193	95.8	2,395	4.2
Salto	33,720	35.6	1	21,681	22.9	0	22,001	23.3	1	11,474	12.1	1	506	0.5	0	1,080	1.1	0	561	0.6	0	747	0.8	91,770	97.0	2,829	3.0
San Jose	29,257	37.3	1	26,360	33.6	1	8,140	10.4	0	8,022	10.2	0	897	1.1	0	792	1.0	0	748	1.0	0	1,135	1.4	75,351	95.9	3,187	4.1
Soriano	23,386	34.7	1	20,951	31.1	1	10,454	15.5	1	7,620	11.3	0	877	1.3	0	476	0.7	0	310	0.5	0	809	1.2	64,883	96.4	2,450	3.6
Tacuarembó	20,239	27.7	1	25,221	34.6	1	10,198	14.0	0	12,252	16.8	1	516	0.7	0	969	1.3	0	487	0.7	0	772	1.1	70,654	96.8	2,300	3.2
Treinta y Tres	10,553	26.7	1	15,074	38.2	1	3,285	8.3	0	7,922	20.1	0	198	0.5	0	316	0.8	0	143	0.4	0	513	1.3	38,004	96.2	1,491	3.8
Total	949,376	39.01	42	696,452	28.62	30	300,177	12.34	13	268,736	11.04	11	33,461	1.38	1	26,313	1.08	1	23,580	0.97	1	46,870	1.93	2,344,965	96.37	88,399	3.63
Sources: Corte Electoral

Second round! rowspan="3"

Constituency	Broad Front		National Party		Valid votes		Invalid votes
data-sort-type="number"	Votes	%	data-sort-type="number"	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%
Artigas	19,800	35.2	34,958	62.2	54,758	97.48	1,418	2.5
Canelones	189,577	51.3	165,350	44.7	354,927	96.01	14,757	4.0
Cerro Largo	26,466	39.4	38,620	57.4	65,086	96.80	2,151	3.2
Colonia	41,946	43.1	52,111	53.5	94,057	96.58	3,332	3.4
Durazno	17,905	38.5	26,948	57.9	44,853	96.36	1,696	3.6
Flores	6,990	33.6	13,102	62.9	20,092	96.49	731	3.5
Florida	22,419	41.7	29,257	54.4	51,676	96.07	2,115	3.9
Lavalleja	15,934	33.3	30,249	63.1	46,183	96.39	1,731	3.6
Maldonado	48,768	37.9	74,193	57.6	122,961	95.51	5,780	4.5
Montevideo	507,346	54.7	383,991	41.4	891,337	96.09	36,288	3.9
Paysandú	40,114	46.3	43,404	50.1	83,518	96.44	3,087	3.6
Rio Negro	17,485	41.8	22,953	54.9	40,438	96.74	1,362	3.3
Rivera	24,029	30.3	52,842	66.7	76,871	97.08	2,311	2.9
Rocha	24,129	41.9	30,736	53.4	54,865	95.35	2,676	4.7
Salto	43,398	46.0	48,240	51.1	91,638	97.10	2,739	2.9
San Jose	35,178	44.9	40,247	51.3	75,425	96.20	2,979	3.8
Soriano	30,453	45.3	34,318	51.0	64,771	96.31	2,485	3.7
Tacuarembó	26,179	36.0	44,092	60.6	70,271	96.64	2,440	3.4
Treinta y Tres	14,155	35.9	23,702	60.2	37,857	96.14	1,519	3.9
Total	1,152,271	47.4	1,189,313	48.9	2,341,584	96.24	91,612	3.77
Source: Corte Electoral

External links

• Official results

Notes and References

1. News: Crime top concern in Uruguay's general election . 27 October 2019 . 2 November 2019 . en-GB.
2. News: Uruguay's presidential poll to go to second round . 2019-10-28 . 2019-11-02 . en-GB.
3. Web site: Lea aquí el borrador del acuerdo de la coalición de los partidos de la oposición . Diario EL PAIS Uruguay . es . 2019-11-01.
4. News: Uruguay election: Lacalle wins presidency as rival concedes . . 28 November 2019. 12 October 2020.
5. Web site: Uruguays left-wing party faces its toughest election in 15 years. 25 October 2019. Buenos Aires Times. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20191230000413/https://www.batimes.com.ar/news/latin-america/uruguays-left-wing-party-faces-its-toughest-election-in-15-years.phtml. 30 December 2019.
6. http://www.ipu.org/parline-e/reports/2342_B.htm Electoral system
7. http://www.ipu.org/parline-e/reports/2341_B.htm Electoral system
8. http://www.corteelectoral.gub.uy/gxpsites/page.aspx Comunicado de prensa de la Corte Electoral - 27 de julio de 2018
9. Web site: Eleições presidenciais: Para onde vai o Uruguai?. 2019-10-27. Revista Fórum. pt-BR. 2019-11-28.
10. News: Daniel Martínez reconoce la victoria de Luis Lacalle en las elecciones presidenciales de Uruguay. BBC. 2019-11-28. 2019-11-28. en-GB.
11. Web site: Muñoz apuntó contra slogan de Talvi: "Nosotros queremos un modelo bien grande". Diario EL PAIS Uruguay. es. 2019-11-28.
12. Web site: Con 6% de intención de voto, Cabildo Abierto se posiciona como la cuarta fuerza política. Diario EL PAIS Uruguay. es. 2019-11-28.
13. Web site: Intención de Voto Octubre 2019. es.
14. Web site: Crece Manini a un 12%, caen Martínez, Lacalle y Talvi en ese orden. es. 4 October 2019. 6 October 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20191006033302/http://www.gruporadar.com.uy/01/02-10-2019-difundido-en-vtv-noticias-crece-manini-a-un-12-caen-martinez-lacalle-y-talvi-en-ese-orden/. dead.
15. Web site: Encuesta de Opción: crecieron levemente el FA y el PN, descendió el PC. es.
16. Web site: Escenarios de Balotaje.
17. Web site: Inicio de sesión en El País. sso.elpais.com.uy. 18 March 2019.
18. Web site: Factum: FA 38%; PN 30%; PC 16%; PGente 5%, PI 4%,UP 2%. 26 February 2019. 2019.com.uy. 18 March 2019.
19. Web site: Encuesta de Grupo Radar: Creció la intención de voto del Frente Amplio - VTV Noticias. 12 February 2019. vtv.com.uy. 18 March 2019.
20. Web site: Para Radar, el FA está primero en intención de voto y a seis puntos del Partido Nacional. Diario EL PAIS Uruguay. 18 March 2019.
21. Web site: Partido Nacional supera al Frente Amplio, según la última encuesta de Opción Consultores. subrayado.com.uy. 18 March 2019.
22. Web site: Encuesta: FA cierra 2018 abajo de los blancos. Diario EL PAIS Uruguay. 18 March 2019.
23. Web site: Colorados duplican su intención de voto en último semestre tras retorno de Sanguinetti. El Observador. 18 March 2019.
24. Web site: 14-11-2018 – (difundido en VTV Noticias) Vuelve a crecer el FA, y Martínez supera a Lacalle por 9 puntos. Crece fuertemente el PC « Grupo Radar. gruporadar.com.uy. 18 March 2019. 20 March 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190320201850/http://www.gruporadar.com.uy/01/?p=2343. dead.
25. Web site: INTENCIÓN DE VOTO "SI LAS ELECCIONES FUERAN HOY" - Cifra. cifra.com.uy. 18 March 2019.
26. Web site: Los movimientos políticos que impactan en la intención de voto. Encuesta Nacional Factum del tercer trimestre de 2018 . es . Factum. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20180913002506/http://factum.uy/analisis/2018/ana180910.php. 2018-09-13.
27. Web site: 23-08-2018 – (difundido en VTV Noticias) Empate entre FA y PN, pero Martínez supera a Lacalle por 5 puntos. Crece la Oposición en su conjunto « Grupo Radar. gruporadar.com.uy. 18 March 2019. 5 March 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190305221559/http://www.gruporadar.com.uy/01/?p=2258. dead.
28. Web site: CIFRA: Lideran los Indecisos NS/NC y en blanco con 35%; FA 27%; PN 26%; PC y PI 4%; y 3% PGente. 8 August 2018. 2019.com.uy. 18 March 2019.
29. Web site: Elecciones: el Partido Nacional es el que tiene mayor aprobación, según encuesta de Opción. El Observador. 18 March 2019.
30. Web site: 08-02-2018 – (difundido en VTV Noticias) El FA supera al PN por 5 puntos en intención de voto por partido. « Grupo Radar. gruporadar.com.uy. 18 March 2019. 27 August 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180827175253/http://www.gruporadar.com.uy/01/?p=2146. dead.
31. Web site: Intención de voto por partido. Primer trimestre 2017 . es. Factum. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20170507092449/http://factum.uy/encuestas/2017/enc170427.php#. 2017-05-07.
32. Web site: Elecciones en Uruguay: con el 100% de las mesas escrutadas, ¿cómo terminó la votación?. La Nación. 2019-11-25. 2019-11-25. es. https://web.archive.org/web/20191128093309/https://www.lanacion.com.ar/el-mundo/elecciones-uruguay-100-mesas-escrutadas-como-termino-nid2309462. 28 November 2019. dead.
33. News: Lacalle won with 48.8% and Martínez obtained 47.3% in the 2019 ballot: look at the results. 30 November 2019. El Pais. 1 December 2019.