Uruguay’s ruling coalition presidential ticket, --Jose Mujica and Danilo Astori--, has a seven percentage points advantage over the opposition, Luis Alberto Lacalle and Jorge Larrañaga, for the run off the last Sunday of November, according to the latest opinion polls released in Montevideo
The Swedish-Finland group Stora Enso and Chile’s Arauco confirmed to the Uruguayan government their intention of building a pulp mill in the country with an investment in the range of two billion US dollars reports the Montevideo daily Ultimas Noticias.
The Argentine government strongly repudiated on Friday a report from the Environmental Board of Uruguay saying Argentina had adulterated information referred to the pulp mill dispute submitted to the International Court at The Hague.
Uruguay’s junior opposition Colorado party has recommended its followers to support Conservative presidential candidate Luis Alberto Lacalle for the November 29th run-off with the ruling coalition’s Jose Mujica.
French bank Credit Agricole officially announced this week it had begun consultations to sell its banking interests in Uruguay where it operates under the name of Credit Uruguay.
Uruguay’s ruling coalition obtained 47.49% of the vote in last Sunday’s general election according to the primary vote count from the country’s Electoral Court, thus confirming a run off for the presidential office at the end of November.
Pluna, Uruguay’s flag carrier began this month commercial cargo flights between Santiago and Punta Arenas in the extreme south of Chile and has plans to incorporate passengers in the near future, reports La Prensa Austral.
Uruguay tops the 2009 Legatum Prosperity Index in South America and is only second to Costa Rica in Latinamerica and ahead of Chile and Argentina. However Latinamerica’s best placed countries in the index which defines prosperity as wealth and wellbeing are in the thirties out of a total list of 104.
A run off at the end of November was the result of Sunday’s presidential election in Uruguay since no candidate managed 50% plus one of the votes, as had been anticipated by most pollsters.
An estimated 2.6 million out of a population of 3.2 million Uruguayans are registered to vote on Sunday’s election that will decide on the successor of President Tabare Vazquez and a new parliament. Voting in Uruguay is compulsory.