Mujica wins Uruguay’s runoff

Uruguay: Broad Front (FA) candidate and former guerrilla leader Jose Mujica rose to victory in Uruguay’s runoff on Sunday, according to exit polls surveys by the Montevideo-based agency Interconsult.

The candidate of Frente Amplio, a center-left coalition, got over 51 percent of the vote while his opponent, former President Luis A. Lacalle of the center-right National Party, trailed with 44 to 45 percent.

Mujica, 74, who was imprisoned for more than a decade by the military juntas that ruled Uruguay in the 1970s and 1980s, campaigned on pledges to continue the policies of President Tabare Vazquez.

Since taking office in March 2005, Vazquez, 69, has cut the unemployment rate to 7.3 percent in September from 12.3 percent, encouraged record foreign investment, increased social spending and boosted wages.

About 2.6 million people were eligible to vote and the next President takes office in March. However, torrential rains hit much of the country and prevented many voters from coming to the polling stations.

The Electoral Court ordered some polling sites to stay open an hour after the official closing time at 19:30 local time. A ban on reporting official results remains in place until an hour afterwards.

In last month’s first round, Mujica, who was a leader of the Tupamaros guerrilla movement, took 47.5 percent of vote, short of the 50 percent needed to avoid a runoff.

Lacalle received 28.5 percent, and Colorado Party candidate Pedro Bordaberry, who later endorsed Lacalle, finished third with 16.7 percent.

Mujica, a former farmer, law maker and Agriculture Minister, says he will hand control of the economy to running mate Danilo Astori, who was Vazquez’s Economy Minister for four years before stepping down last year to be eligible for elected office.

Montevideo, Prensa Latina