MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguayan ruling coalition loosing ground to the opposition

Luis Alberto Lacalle and the National party ahead in all the country but Montevideo

The Uruguayan ruling coalition Broad Front seems to be loosing steam while the main opposition party grows steadily ahead of the coming October 25th general election, according to the latest public opinion poll released on Sunday.

Pollster Interconsult has the Broad Front with 42% vote intention, (down two points compared to the previous June poll) while the main opposition party Partido Nacional stands at 36% and the junior opposition member, Colorado Party, increases two percentage points and reaches 10%.

Finally the Independent party retains 2%, while 7% are undecided and 3% will vote blank or annulled. Presidential elections in Uruguay are compulsory.

This is the first public opinion poll released since the June 28th primary elections which confirmed the presidential tickets of the different political parties.

In the June 28th election, the ruling coalition nominated former guerrilla leader and ex Agriculture minister Jose Mujica as their presidential candidate; the National party opted for former president Luis Alberto Lacalle; Pedro Bordaberry in the Colorado Party and Pablo Mieres for the Independents.

In the capital Montevideo where half the Uruguayan 3.4 million population live, the ruling coalition has its main bastion with a 51% support followed by the opposition National party, 29% and 12% for the Colorado party.

In the rest of the country the National Party is ahead with 41% vote intention; the Broad Front with 35% and the Colorados with 12%.

If presidential elections were held next Sunday no candidate would garner the 50% plus one vote needed and a run off between the two most voted candidates will take place on the last Sunday of November.

Five years ago the Broad Front just managed to scrape through with 50.9% of the vote in October 2004 with no need for a run off. First time this happened in Uruguay since the new 1996 constitution became effective.