Yamandú Orsi wins Uruguay election as voters oust incumbent party

Uruguay elected Yamandú Orsi of the left-wing opposition party to become the nation’s next president in a run-off vote Sunday, joining an anti-incumbent trend in the Americas as voters’ worries about inequality and crime spurred change.  

President Luis Lacalle Pou called Orsi to congratulate him on winning the South American election moments before the incumbent candidate Álvaro Delagdo conceded the race before the official count was finalized. 

Preliminary results from Uruguay’s Electoral Court showed Orsi winning with 49.8 percent of votes against 45.9 percent for Delgado from more than 98 percent of the voting stations reporting.

“I am going to be a president that creates a better integrated society and country where nobody will ever be left behind from an economic, social and political point of view,” Orsi said in front of supporters gathered at a victory rally, waving flags and celebrating. 

Uruguay is the latest country to oust an incumbent party this year with Orsi successfully tapping voter angst about persistently high violent crime and an economic recovery that has left many behind. However, the South American nation famous for its stability in a volatile region isn’t veering toward a sharp ideological change as seen in Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and the United States. 

Orsi, 57, pitched himself as the “safe change” candidate, while Delgado campaigned under the slogan “re-elect a good government” in reference to the Covid-19 policies and job growth under Lacalle Pou. Both ran as predictable mainstream candidates rather than disruptive outsiders. 

Uruguayans, meanwhile, have already rejected a proposal to dismantle the country’s US$23-billion pension system that had markets on edge about the nation’s safe-haven reputation.

Uruguay elects a new Congress and president once every five years with no mid-term elections. The Frente Amplio won control of the 30-member Senate and 48 of the 99 seats in the lower house Chamber of Representatives in general elections October 27. Orsi will lead Uruguay’s fourth Frente Amplio government when he starts his five-year term March 1, 2025.

Orsi will inherit an economy the Central Bank sees growing 3.5 percent through 2025 with an unemployment rate that fell to a three-year low of 7.3 percent in October. Tight monetary policy has tamed years of high inflation with consumer prices hewing to the Central Bank’s three percent to six percent target for 17 consecutive months.

Even so, the president-elect faces a challenging first year cutting the deficit and organizing a bailout of the retirement system serving white collar professionals. Orsi will have to lean heavily on the negotiating skills he honed as governor to convince two lower house lawmakers from rival parties to back his legislative agenda.

Orsi’s plan to goose growth that averaged a meagre one percent the last decade includes mix of tax incentives to foster investment and industrial policy to support agriculture, high tech and manufacturing. He also wants to lower the minimum retirement age to 60 from 65 and scrutinize the commissions charged by private pension funds as part of a broader overhaul of the social security system. Orsi has promised not to abolish the pension funds.

The former history teacher tapped respected economist Gabriel Oddone to serve as his finance minister.