Uruguay’s Presidential election is wrapping up and it looks like José Mujica, a socialist and former guerrilla fighter, will win some 47% of the vote reports The New York Times. Mujica needed more than 50% of the vote to avoid a runoff election at the end of November, but still his chances look good for the runoff.
“Uruguay fits into the consolidated left of the hemisphere and will probably stay there for the foreseeable future,” said a Latin American expert in the Times.
As the Christian Science Monitor reported:
Few suspect either leading candidate would turn the country in a radically different direction. While Mujica might deepen social programs, Lacalle would likely focus more on foreign investment and enterprise, Boidi says. In either case, she says, any radical impulses would be reined in by their own parties and opposition members of parliament, whose seats are up for election Sunday, too.