The leftist opposition candidate in Uruguay, Yamandú Orsi, declared victory in Sunday’s closely contested presidential runoff, defeating the conservative governing coalition. This result marks another setback for an incumbent party in a year of significant elections across South America.
Despite the ongoing vote count, Álvaro Delgado, the center-right ruling coalition’s candidate, conceded defeat to Orsi.
“With sadness, but without guilt, we can congratulate the winner,” he told supporters at his campaign headquarters in the capital of Montevideo
Fireworks erupted over the stage where Orsi, 57, a working-class former history teacher and two-time mayor from Uruguay’s Broad Front coalition, thanked his supporters as crowds flocked to greet him.
“The country of liberty, equality and fraternity has triumphed once again,” he said, vowing to unite the nation of 3.4 million people after such a tight vote.
“Let’s understand that there is another part of our country who have different feelings today,” he said. “These people will also have to help build a better country. We need them too.”
With nearly all votes counted, electoral officials confirmed Yamandú Orsi secured just over 49% of the vote, surpassing Álvaro Delgado’s 46%. The remaining ballots were either left blank or voters abstained, despite Uruguay’s compulsory voting system. Voter turnout reached nearly 90%.
Although both campaigns struggled to engage disenchanted younger voters, Uruguay’s electoral process avoided the anti-establishment fervor seen in countries like the United States and Argentina, where populist outsiders have risen to power.
Following a closely matched contest, Delgado’s concession paves the way for Orsi to assume leadership, ending the center-right Republican coalition’s tenure. This marks a return to power for the Broad Front, which previously governed for 15 consecutive years before the 2019 election of President Luis Lacalle Pou.
“I called Yamandú Orsi to congratulate him as President-elect of our country,” Lacalle Pou wrote on social media platform X, adding that he would “put myself at his service and begin the transition as soon as I deem it appropriate.”
Orsi’s victory was the latest sign that simmering discontent over post-pandemic economic malaise favors anti-incumbent candidates. In the many elections that took place during 2024, voters frustrated with the status quo have punished ruling parties from the U.S. and Britain to South Korea and Japan.
Unlike many global political shifts, Orsi presents himself as a moderate, offering no radical changes. He shares many of the same views as his opponent, particularly on issues such as reducing childhood poverty—currently at a staggering 25%—and addressing the rise in organized crime that has shaken Uruguay, once regarded as one of Latin America’s safest countries.
Although Orsi claims to lead a “new left,” his platform largely mirrors the policies of the Broad Front’s previous governance (2005-2020), which balanced market-friendly measures with welfare programs. During this period, Uruguay experienced solid economic growth and significant social reforms, earning global recognition.
A key figure in Uruguay’s progressive achievements, including the legalization of abortion, same-sex marriage, and marijuana, was former President José “Pepe” Mujica. A former Marxist guerrilla, Mujica became an international icon and a mentor to Orsi. Now 89 and recovering from esophageal cancer, Mujica visited his local polling station before voting began on Sunday, praising Orsi’s humility and highlighting Uruguay’s enduring stability.
“This is no small feat,” he said of his nation’s “citizenry that respects formal institutions.”
Specific proposals by Orsi include tax incentives to lure investment and revitalize the critical agricultural sector, as well as social security reforms that would lower the retirement age but fall short of a radical overhaul sought by Uruguay’s unions that failed to pass in the Oct. 27 general election during which neither front-runner secured an outright majority.
In keeping with the nation’s reputation for being sensible, voters rejected generous pay-outs and the redistribution of privately managed pension funds in favor of fiscal constraint.
He is also likely to scupper a trade agreement with China that Lacalle Pou had pursued to the chagrin of Mercosur, an alliance of South American nations promoting regional commerce.
“He’s my candidate, not only for my sake but also for my children’s,” said Yeny Varone, a nurse at a polling station who voted for Orsi.“In the future they’ll have better working conditions, health and salaries.”
Delgado, 55, a rural veterinarian with a long career in the National Party, served most recently as Secretary of the Presidency for Lacalle Pou and campaigned under the slogan “re-elect a good government.”
With inflation easing and the economy expected to expand by some 3.2% this year, Delgado has promised to continue pursuing his predecessor’s pro-business policies. Lacalle Pou, who constitutionally cannot run for a second consecutive term, has enjoyed high approval ratings.
But the official results trickling in Sunday showed that mounting complaints in Uruguay about years of sluggish economic growth, stagnant wages and the government’s struggle to contain crime after five years helped swing the election against Delgado.
Still, Orsi struck a conciliatory tone.
“I will be the president who calls for national dialogue again and again, who builds a more integrated society and country,” he said, adding that he would get to work immediately.
“Starting tomorrow, I’ll have to work very hard, there’s a lot to do,” he told The Associated Press from the glass-walled NH Columbia hotel, thronged friends and colleagues embracing and congratulating him.
The win after such the hard-fought race, he said, gave him a “a strange feeling that I think takes a while to come to terms with.”
His government will take office on March 1, 2025.