The election with a runoff on 24th Nov. will probably end 15 years of rule by the left.
URUGUAY IS “a small country, locked between two monsters”, Argentina and Brazil, says Luis Lacalle Pou, the front-runner to be its next president. But “we are the fence in between, the anchor of stability in our region,” he says just before addressing a noisy rally in Colonia de Sacramento, a former citadel just across the River Plate from Argentina.
Uruguay, with just 3.5m people, is not weighty enough to be an anchor, but it does provide an example. It is prosperous and liberal, has low corruption by regional standards and its politics are temperate. (That may have something to do with its demographics; its population is the oldest in Latin America.) With Chile, the other paragon of stability in South America, convulsed by riots, Uruguay looks even better. Mr Lacalle says it will remain “the voice of pragmatic progress” if he wins. One fact is already a reality regarding the composition of the seats in parliament. Come what may, the left Frente Amplio has lost its majority in the senate.
Source: economist
