On Sunday 27 October the Uruguayan electorate will be voting for a new president (there is no immediate reelection) and a renewed Legislative, 30 Senators and 99 Lower House members. Uruguay is one of the more stable countries in the region, both it's solid institutions as well as its citizens who are deeply committed to democracy, social rights and a strong presence of government in the economy.
Uruguayan lawmaker Jaime Trobo, a good friend of the Falklands' people and who visited the Islands in several occasions died this week at the age of 62 after a long battle with cancer. Trobo was first elected a Montevideo Councillor for the National Party in 1984, when Uruguay emerged from eleven years of military dictatorship.
In a primary election full of new faces and overshadowed by accusations of “dirty” campaigns, there were no surprises in the results of the internal elections of Uruguay's main political parties, according to the data of the pollsters. Daniel Martínez (Frente Amplio), Luis Lacalle Pou (National Party) and Ernesto Talvi (Colorado Party) will represent the three parties with the greatest adhesion in the country, starting a new stage in the national elections in October.
The last Sunday of June Uruguay will be holding presidential primaries when political parties will be choosing their candidates for the coming election scheduled for next October. There are over a dozen hopefuls, but only three, maybe four or five can be considered sufficiently strong as to be taken into account. After all from one of these parties will come the next president of Uruguay, since there is no consecutive reelection in Uruguay.
Former president Tabare Vazquez is the most popular politician in Uruguay with 65% support followed by the current head of state Jose Mujica with 50% and Vice-president Danilo Astori, 48%, according to an opinion poll from Equipos Mori and published over the weekend in the Montevideo media.