Left-leaning former President Tabare Vazquez won the most votes in Uruguay’s presidential election Sunday, but he fell short of the outright majority needed to avoid a Nov. 30 runoff, exit polls said.
Three polls indicated that Mr. Vazquez, 74, the candidate of the outgoing president’s Broad Front coalition, would face centre-right challenger Luis Alberto Lacalle Pou, 41, of the National Party in a second-round vote.
Mr. Vazquez, who was president in 2005-10, would end up with around 44 per cent or 45 per cent of the vote, against 31 per cent to 33 per cent for Lacalle Pou, the polls predicted. Pedro Bordaberry of the Colorado Party came in a distant third, with 13 per cent to 14 per cent.
Few results were available late Sunday, and officials didn’t expect to report the final count until morning.
“This political force has been voted by the majority, but we’ll have to go into a runoff,” Mr. Vazquez told supporters after the exit polls were released. “It’s a huge recognition to the nine years of the Broad Front’s government. ... Uruguay will now have to decide between five more years of progressivism, or another type of government.”
