MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Montevideo seems prepared to vote for a Communist Mayor next May

The double C (consensus communist) candidate Ana Olivera

Montevideo, Uruguay’s capital will most probably have as of next July a Communist Mayor with the support from the political machinery that has dominated undisputedly the city’s politics for the last two decades.

Ana Olivera was nominated as a consensus candidate for Uruguay’s ruling catch-all coalition that has had control of the city of Montevideo (where half of the country electorate resides) following a disputed convention where a Socialist hopeful and tepid Social-democrat had to yield to the late entry.

Ms Olivera a long standing, low profile, member of the Marxist inspired Uruguayan communist party has a long experience in municipal affairs and is currently Deputy Minister of Social Development, the office created in 2005 to help combat poverty (with domestic funds and World Bank contributions) by distributing a monthly stipend of 120 US dollars among the most needy families. A practice quite extended in most Latinamerican countries.

It is believed the social development plan has benefited close to 120.000 head of families and obviously helped a parching communist structure revive plus giving it a chance of rebuilding its cadres, although it must be said that in Uruguay the main unions’ organization is and has been under Communist control.

Ms Olivera said her campaign for the May election will take off next March when the new national governments headed by president elect Jose Mujica officially takes office and until then she’s still a member of the cabinet.

However things are not that simple or straight forward.

Her surprise candidacy and nomination should have not been unexpected for the ruling coalition arch that extends from former guerrillas to Christian Democrats including Trotskyites, Communists and Socialists.

In the Broad Front coalition that won Uruguay’s national election in 2004 and repeated in November 2009, former guerrilla leader and president-elect Mujica heads the main grouping MPP (Popular Participation Movement) and with its Communist allies managed to conform a majority block that sailed through party plenums, conventions, grass root meetings, congresses basically ensuring its objective: Mujica’s nomination as presidential candidate.

In exchange for this major success, achieved in spite of the declared opposition from (Socialist) president (and a very popular leader) Tabare Vazquez who openly favoured former Economy minister Danilo Astori, Mujica and MPP winked a promise to the Communists that they could have their first elected mayor of Montevideo, which is not a minor feat.

No wonder then that either of the first round hopefuls were unable to reach the four fifths needed to confirm them as Montevideo mayor candidates and that yes, a third consensus optional name was put on the table and happened to be a communist.

Communists and MPP that had voted divided in the first round then joined forces for the consensus candidate together with the support from the group of former Economy minister Astori, defeated in the presidential primary, but who next March will be taking office as the Vice-president of Mujica.

And what about the opposition candidates from the two other major political forces in Uruguay?

Public opinion polls, without giving candidates names, show that the ruling coalition has a solid 55% support, while the other two forces range between 12% and 15%. Furthermore none of the hopefuls are really “political animals” prepared to conquer Montevideo, and their sponsor-parties seem to anticipate a Broad Front repeat.

Montevideo polls have consistently shown, during the last fifteen years, a solid backing above 50% for the Broad Front both at municipal and national level.