An Uruguayan opposition figure won Sunday's presidential runoff election after the ruling party of conceded defeat on Thursday. Daniel Martinez congra
An Uruguayan opposition figure won Sunday’s presidential runoff election after the ruling party of conceded defeat on Thursday.
Daniel Martinez congratulated Luis Lacalle Pou on Twitter and added that they would meet tomorrow.
The results of Uruguay’s Sunday presidential runoff were a virtual tie and too close to call, according to the local media and electoral officials on Monday.
The Electoral Court said the winner would be announced by Friday, given that the margin was as narrow as some 30,000 votes, Uruguayan daily El Pais reported.
Luis Lacalle Pou, president-elect of Uruguay
Nearly 15 years of leftist rule in Uruguay came to an end on Thursday with the election victory of Luis Lacalle Pou.Lacalle’s center-right National Party (Partido Nacional) won Sunday’s runoff after the candidate of the ruling socialist Broad Front (Frente Amplio) party, Daniel Martinez, conceded defeat on Thursday.Born Luis Alberto Alejandro Aparicio Lacalle Pou on Aug. 11, 1973, in capital Montevideo, the president-elect of Uruguay is a graduate of law.Lacalle, son of former president Luis Alberto Lacalle, and married to Lorena Ponce de Leon with three children, won on the slogan “Uruguay for all” — El Uruguay De Todos.After studying at the The British Schools of Montevideo in his primary and secondary school, he received his law degree from the Catholic University of Uruguay.He was the first elected representative for the department of Canelones in the 1999 general elections. Later in 2004 and 2009, he was reelected consecutively and served until 2015.Uruguayan opposition led by Lacalle Pou wins electionAlthough he ran for presidency in 2014, conservative Lacalle was defeated in second round of elections. On Nov. 24, 2019, Lacalle secured 48.71% of the unofficial vote in the second round of the Uruguayan General Election against his opponent Daniel Martinez who got 47.51%.Martinez was a former mayor of Montevideo and his the candidate of ruling socialist Broad Front (Frente Amplio) party. In 2005, Tabare Vazquez became Uruguay’s first leftist president, winning the 2004 presidential election. In the November 2009 runoff election, Jose Mujica, a senator and former left-wing rebel fighter, was elected president of Uruguay with more than half the vote. Vazquez was reelected to take office for the second time in 2015.
With 98.1% of the votes tallied, opposition candidate Lacalle Pou of the conservative National Party had led the race with 48.73% versus 47.49% for the candidate of the ruling progressive Broad Front, Daniel Martinez.
Lacalle Pou had secured 1,145,454 votes while Martinez received 1,116,112 votes.
As the winner, Lacalle Pou will take office on March 1, 2020 for a five-year term.
Uruguay went to polls on Sunday to elect the replacement of Tabare Vasquez as president of the Latin American nation in a second round runoff vote.
Martinez prevailed in the first round of the presidential elections with 40% of the vote, while Lacalle Pou obtained around 29%, according to results at the ballot box.
Following the results of the first round, far-right retired officer Manini Rios and the Colorado Party presidential candidate Ernesto Talvi expressed their support for Lacalle Pou in the second round.