With more than 90% of the votes counted by the Electoral Tribunal, the conservative ruling party Álvaro Delgado (National Party) and the opposition Yamandú Orsi (Frente Amplio) are well ahead of the results and will fight for the presidency of Uruguay in the next election. second round.
The left-wing coalition led by former president José Mújica has 949,983 votes out of 2,217,473 votes cast, the National Party has 592,677 and the Colorado Party has 353,422.
For its part, the Sovereign Identity has 58,716 votes, the Cabildo Abierto has 53,020 votes and the Independent Party has 37,715. These figures indicate that these political forces would be those who would take their place in Parliament.
This Sunday, Uruguay faced elections in which citizens went to the polls to elect the president and parliamentarians for the period 2025-2030.
Given that none of the eleven candidates exceeded 50% of the votes, a second round will take place on November 24 between the two most votes.
Pension reform
In addition, voters had to decide on two plebiscites: one aimed at reforming the social security system and the other aimed at authorizing nighttime police raids.
Neither the social security reform proposed by the single union center nor the authorization of nighttime police raids were approved during the plebiscite.
The reform aimed to lower the retirement age from 65 to 60, end private pension funds and equate the lowest pension with the minimum wage.
The modification of the social security regime proposed by the Plenary Inter-Union Assembly of Workers – National Workers’ Convention did not reach the 50% of votes necessary to move forward, nor did the authorization to carry out night searches, which, according to company demographic projections reached only 39%.
“We have not achieved the central objective that we had set for ourselves. We did not achieve this with the vote that our citizens developed today. If this trend is confirmed, which everything indicates, we will not call what is not a victory and we will recognize the result,” declared the leader of the union movement, Marcelo Abdala.
The modification of the social security system that was put to the vote today dates back to August last year, when the government of Luis Lacalle Pou managed to put into force a law that raised the age of retirement from 60 to 65 years old and which also allowed retirees to choose to maintain a professional activity.
This led the labor movement to hold a plebiscite with the aim of changing the law and the national Constitution itself. Its objective was to align the amount of pensions with the national minimum wage and to once again allow retirement at 60.
The proposal, which provided for the replacement of Private Retirement Savings Fund Administrators (AFAP, private) with a Social Security system managed exclusively by the State, divided the waters in the political system and in the electorate.
The presidential candidates of the government coalition parties opposed the union initiative, while the opposition Frente Amplio (FA) decided to leave it to the free consideration of its electorate, even if its presidential candidate, Yamandú Orsi, positioned himself against .
At the same time, the other file submitted for consultation, the possible authorization of night raids, was the initiative of parliamentarians from the ruling coalition.
According to article 11 of the Uruguayan Constitution, “the home is inviolable”, which is why “at night, no one can enter it without the consent of their boss, and during the day, only on the express order of a competent judge , in writing and in written form.” cases determined by law.
In this case, the government coalition supported the initiative, while the Frente Amplio issued a resolution in which it declared that the proposal was not “the best way to resolve serious security problems”, and that he would therefore not support her.
