Yamandú Orsi won the second round of the Uruguayan elections without any problems and with the help of this history professor the Frente Amplio (FA, center-left) returns to Government next year. The forecast of a much tighter contest did not come true. Three exit polls from the consulting firms Usina, Cifra and Equipos, gave Orsi an average of four points away from his rival Alvaro Delgadoof the National Party (White). As soon as these data were known, the Frente Amplio militants went out to celebrate on the banks of the Río de la Plata, near the NH Hotel. The sky over the capital was filled with fireworks. The silence of the rivals was eloquent and of resignation.
Orsi had comfortably won the first turn with 44% of the adhesionsya 17 points from the official candidate. Delgado was unable to capitalize on President Luis Lacalle Pou’s popularity, which is around 50%. Nor was it enough with the support of the Colorados, the other traditional party in Uruguay.
The victory of the FA not only represents the return of the center-left to power after five years but a new regional balance. With Orsi, Uruguay will once again be closer to the series of progressive governments that it has Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Gustavo Petro, Gabriel Boric and Claudia Sheinbaum as referents.
The winner of these elections is 57 years old. He is married to Laura Alonso Pérez and has two twin children. Yamandú, as the Frente Amplistas and the opposition call him, was born in the department of Canelones, 49 kilometers from Montevideo. He joined the FA in his adolescence. He studied History and joined the center-left coalition led by the former president. José Pepe Mujica who, at 89 years old, and in a deteriorating state of health, as a result of his treatment for esophageal cancer, came out to support the presidential candidate. Orsi was also in charge of the Canelones mayor’s office, which was his platform to acquire national visibility.
Praise for moderation
Son of a winemaker, Professor Orsi had waited with “moderate optimism” the results. And “moderation” is a mark of Uruguayan institutions. The two-party system, which puts the FA on one side and, on the other, the coalition put together by the whites and reds, has functioned as a reassurance of peace since the small South American country recovered democracy at the end of the 80s of the last century. The FA governed for 15 years in almost three decades. Not even when a former insurgent like Mujica became president was stability at stake. “Neither defeated nor victors… We just elected a government that does not own the truth and that needs all of them,” said Mujica when taking the reins of the Executive. In their own way, each president, when assuming their duties, repeats that idea. Carolina Cosse, the elected vice president and former mayor of Montevideo, made it his own this Sunday: ““We must always think about the interests of Uruguay.”
Both Orsi and Delgado had expressed, before the scrutiny became known, their willingness to reach agreements, whoever wins will win. Both had spoken out against the reform of the social security system in the October popular consultation. The cult of measure distinguishes Uruguay, especially from its neighbors in Argentina and Brazil, where political polarization is the distinctive mark.
The future head of state has at one point guaranteed governability. In October he achieved a slight majority in the Senate and will surely find circumstantial allies in the Deputies. Unlike his predecessor, Orsi is expected to put a greater emphasis on the social issuel, the educational and salary deficits, without adopting drastic measures that put at stake the continuity of the guiding lines of the Uruguayan two-party system. The FA may have a foreign policy different from that of Lacalle Pouwho automatically aligned himself with the United States. Orsi will have to hold the presidency with Donal Trump in the White House.
