Lacalle Pou officially declared Uruguay's next president
Conservative presidential candidate for the National Party Luis Lacalle Pou will be Uruguay's next president, the country's Electoral Court confirmed today.
The National Party nominee won the presidential run-off on November 24, his narrow victory marking an end to a 15-year era of center-left Broad Front administrations in the South American nation of 3.5 million.
While the final vote count is still ongoing, as of 2:30 p.m. local time Lacalle added 7,188 votes to his preliminary total, compared for 3,361 for Martínez - bringing Lacalle's margin to 32,193, or 1.4%.
"The evolution of the vote scrutiny does not change the trend, so we greet President-elect Luis Lacalle Pou with whom I will hold a meeting tomorrow. I thank those who trusted us with their vote from the heart," Broad Front nominee Daniel Martínez tweeted this morning.
"We will continue to defend democracy with more force than ever."
Martínez, 62, won the first round on October 27 by 11%.
But Lacalle secured endorsements from the center-right Red Party - as well as the far-right Open Cabildo Party, whose nominee, retired Gen. Guido Manini Ríos, exhorted fellow officers to vote against the Broad Front to "close the door on communism and gender ideology."
Lacalle, 46, inherits one of Latin America's strongest economies, with GDP growing 4% annually during the Broad Front era - compared to 1.5% in the previous 50 years - while poverty fell from 40% to 8.1%.
The "Macrisis" in neighboring Argentina has pushed Uruguay's small economy into a downturn however, with GDP inching up just 0.1% year-on-year in the second quarter.
At: https://www.batimes.com.ar/news/latin-america/lacalle-pou-officially-declared-uruguays-next-president.phtml
An exultant Luis Lacalle Pou greets reporters after his narrow victory this Sunday, confirmed today by the provisional count vote.
Lacalle's win ends the 15-year center-left Broad Front era, during which the economy grew strongly and previously widespread poverty declined sharply.
Martínez, who conceded defeat this morning, has compared Lacalle to neighboring Argentina's Mauricio Macri, whose "Macrisis" has pushed Uruguay into a downturn.
