MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguay: All set for vote.

Despite an electoral curfew that started yesterday in Uruguay ? which silenced the public fervour sympathizers of all candidates had shown in the weeks leading to the country's election tomorrow ?the country continued to produce news.

Incumbent President Jorge Batlle yesterday dismissed rumours of an early power handover, saying that he will work intensively until the day the new president is inaugurated. Batlle also ensured that the transition will go according to plan. The Batlle administration, he said, "is ready to provide any information required by the (elected president's) team."

Meanwhile, during a press conference yesterday, frontrunner Tabaré Vázquez ? of the leftist Broad Front ? said that during his eventual administration, he will strengthen social aid, investigate human rights abuses during the country's military dictatorship and deepen ties with Uruguay's fellow Mercosur members.

"Moments of change are looming in Uruguay," Vázquez said, "but more than measures, we can talk about the first gestures that our administration will make, tackling the social emergency of thousands of fellow countrymen who are in poverty."

He also said he has "enormous coincidences" with the governments of neighbouring countries and underscored Uruguay's "historic brotherhood with Argentina and the common identity of our peoples."

Tabaré Vázquez yesterday thanked President Néstor Kirchner for his support. The Kirchner administration's not-so-veiled support for Vázquez has repeatedly provoked rebukes from rival parties.

Uruguayan imigration authorities said 40.000 thousands citizens living in Argentina travelled to Uruguay to vote.

At the same time, a group of foreign observers who will monitor tomorrow's elections emphasized the enthusiasm, respect and civic behaviour of Uruguayans.

The observers, who belong to the Committee of Electoral Organizations, met yesterday with Batlle and members of Uruguay's Electoral Court.

Costa Rica born José Thompson, a member of the delegation, said that Uruguay's electoral system is "very original" and therefore "peculiar," and also reminded voters that in tomorrow's election Uruguayans will have their say over a potential constitutional amendment which would grant the state the domain on water.