After five years away from power, the Uruguayan left is the favorite to win the presidential elections, the first round of which will take place on October 27th. According to polls, the Broad Front has an advantage of 15 to 20 percentage points in relation to the National Party, represented in the dispute by Álvaro Delgado, former chief of staff of the current president, the liberal Luis Lacalle Pou. “The front defined a powerful formula by bringing together the country’s two main mayors. Candidate Yamandú Orsi governed Canelones and is recognized for his negotiating profile, while his vice-president, Carolina Cosse, administered Montevideo and is more combative. Both were approved in their mandates and are qualified for this moment”, says journalist Sebastian Torterolla.
The choice of popular names and the strong campaign in the interior are considered crucial to ensure that favoritism translates into victory on October 27th. The increase in child poverty, which affects one in five Uruguayans in certain regions, inequality and homelessness, according to figures from the National Statistics Institute, drives popular dissatisfaction and increases the chances of victory for the left-wing opposition, defeated in 2019 after three consecutive terms. “The idea that businesspeople would move the country forward proved to be exclusionary and elitist. The spill theory, of a leak of wealth from the top of the pyramid to the poorest layers, definitely did not happen. The middle class and popular factions lost opportunities”, argues Monica Xavier, general secretary of the Socialist Party, one of the Frente Amplio parties.
