MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Kirchner openly support Uruguayan presidential candidate.

Uruguayan presidential hopeful Tabare Vazquez who leads in the public opinion polls met Monday morning in Buenos Aires with Argentine president Nestor Kirchner.

Uruguayan general elections are scheduled for Sunday October 31 and all main candidates have been campaigning in Buenos Aires where a large Uruguayan community resides.

Mr. Vazquez is an oncologist who is running for the third time and represents the Broad Front coalition of left wing parties that includes Socialist, Communists, former Tupamaro urban guerrillas and other radical groups. Opinion polls indicate he musters between 46 and 49% of vote intention, with 9% still undecided, but Mr. Vazquez needs 50% of all votes plus one to become president in the first round. Otherwise there will be a run off between the two most voted presidential candidates the last Sunday of November. Voting is compulsory in Uruguay.

Mr. Vazquez held a short interview in Casa Rosada with President Kirchner whose administration openly favors the left leaning Broad Front, and at midday participated in the Buenos Aires television lunch show with the highest audience rating at that time.

Late in the evening, 19:00 hours, a caravan of vehicles with Dr. Vazquez upfront crossed Buenos Aires city ending with a political rally in the heart of the Argentine capital.

The Uruguayan community living in Argentina is estimated in 300,000 and if sufficient voters can travel October 31 to their homeland it could have a decisive impact in the elections. There's no overseas postal voting for Uruguayans.

Mr. Vazquez runner up in the opinion polls with 32% of vote intention, Jorge Larrañaga from the National Party has also been campaigning in Buenos Aires, as has the ruling Colorado party candidate Guillermo Stirling whose support ranks between 9 and 11%.

However Mr. Stirling has not visited President Kirchner since relations with Uruguayan president Jorge Batlle are rather strained. In 2003 Mr. Batlle predicted Argentine presidential elections would be won by Carlos Menem, Mr. Kirchner's most loathed enemy. Besides, Mr. Kirchner favors Mercosur and a political alignment with Brazil, Venezuela and Cuba, and Mr. Batlle with the George Bush administration and the Free Trade Association of the Americas.

Catching support from friendly and ideologically aligned presidents in neighboring countries is common practice in South America. Argentine president Kirchner during his electoral campaign visited Brazil's Lula da Silva and Socialist Ricardo Lagos in Chile.