2019 Uruguayan general election

2019 Uruguayan general election

← 2014 27 October 2019 (first round) 24 November 2019 (second round) 2024 →
Registered	2,669,980
Turnout	90.13% (first round) 0.38pp 90.12% (second round) 1.54pp
Presidential election
Nominee Luis Lacalle Pou Daniel Martínez Party National Socialist Alliance Multicolor Coalition Broad Front Running mate Beatriz Argimón Graciela Villar Popular vote 1,189,313 1,152,271 Percentage 50.79% 49.21%
Results by department
President before election Tabaré Vázquez Broad Front Elected President Luis Lacalle Pou National
Parliamentary election
All 99 seats in the Chamber of Representatives All 30 seats in the Senate
Party Leader Vote % Seats +/– Chamber of Representatives Broad Front Daniel Martínez 40.49 42 −8 National Luis Lacalle Pou 29.70 30 −2 Colorado Ernesto Talvi 12.80 13 0 Cabildo Abierto Guido Manini Ríos 11.46 11 New PERI César Vega 1.43 1 +1 Partido de la Gente Edgardo Novick 1.12 1 New Independent Pablo Mieres 1.01 1 −2 Senate Broad Front Daniel Martínez 40.49 13 −2 National Luis Lacalle Pou 29.70 10 0 Colorado Ernesto Talvi 12.80 4 0 Cabildo Abierto Guido Manini Ríos 11.46 3 New This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

Politics of Uruguay
Constitution Current constitution (1997) Previous constitutions 1830 1918 1934 1942 1952 1967
Executive President (list) Luis Alberto Lacalle Pou Cabinet
Legislative Vice President Beatriz Argimón General Assembly Senate President Chamber of Representatives President Palacio Legislativo
Judiciary Supreme Court
Administrative divisions Departments Municipalities
Elections Political parties Recent elections General: 2014 2019 2024 Municipal: 2010 2015 2020 Electoral Court Ley de Lemas (voting system)
Foreign relations Ministry of Foreign Relations Minister: Omar Paganini (list) Diplomatic missions of / in Uruguay Nationality law Passport Visa requirements Visa policy
See also Law of Uruguay Civil Code State companies
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General elections were held in Uruguay on Sunday, 27 October 2019 to elect the President and General Assembly. As no presidential candidate received a majority in the first round of voting, a runoff election took place on 24 November.

In the 2014 elections, the left-wing Broad Front had won a third consecutive election with absolute majorities in both houses of the General Assembly. The Broad Front's term in office еarned support through the creation of a large welfare system, but at the same time was undermined by an increasing budget deficit, along with rising unemployment and a spike in violence. The election campaign focused primarily around the issue of crime, with each party proposing different solutions. A constitutional referendum on amendments proposed by opposition senator Jorge Larrañaga was held alongside the elections. The amendments proposed the introduction of a National Guard and tougher security measures.^[1][2][3]

As incumbent president Tabaré Vázquez was unable to seek re-election due to constitutional term limits, the Broad Front nominated former Montevideo mayor Daniel Martínez as its presidential candidate. The National Party nominated its 2014 candidate Luis Lacalle Pou, the Colorado Party nominated the economist Ernesto Talvi, and the new Open Cabildo party nominated former commander-in-chief of the Uruguayan Army, Guido Manini Ríos.

Heading into the elections, most opinion polls predicted a run-off between Martínez and Lacalle Pou, along with the loss of the Broad Front's congressional majority and the growth of Open Cabildo. In the first round of voting, the Broad Front saw its worst results since the 1999 elections, but Martínez still received the most votes in the 11-candidate field and qualified for the runoff along with Lacalle Pou, who subsequently received support from most of the eliminated opposition parties.^[4] In the runoff, Lacalle Pou defeated Martínez by just over 37,000 votes in a tight race, with the final result only declared after the counting of absentee ballots. Martinez conceded defeat four days after the election, saying that the outstanding absentee ballots would not be enough to overcome Lacalle Pou's lead in preliminary results.^[5]

The elections marked the first loss for the Broad Front in a presidential election since 1999, with Lacalle Pou becoming the first National Party president since his father, Luis Alberto Lacalle de Herrera, who held office from 1990 to 1995.