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Uruguay election on a knife edge
But I think we all saw this coming ...
Uruguay has voted in elections which pitted a left-wing ex-guerrilla leader against a former president - and the result too close to call. The winner will replace outgoing socia1ist President Tabare Vazquez.

Exit polls on Sunday suggested 74-year-old Mr Mujica had gained about 48% of votes, with Mr Lacalle trailing on around 30%. If the ruling party socia1ist cannot pass the 50% threshold, he will face a run-off against his conservative rival Luis Lacalle, the former president. A 29 November run-off would take place between the two frontrunners.

Mr Mujica, a senator of the governing left-wing Broad Front Party, was a former member of the rebel Tupamaros movement in the 1960s and 1970s.
A former rebel? How romantic.
He has pledged to remove the income tax imposed by President Vazquez and trim the size of government in the country of 3.4 million.
Um? That sounds downright American-style conservative! Is he telling the truth?
Mr Lacalle, famed for having survived an attempt to poison him - and other National Party leaders - with tainted wine in the 1970s, is a 68-year-old lawyer. During the election campaign, he sought to capitalise on concerns among some voters about his rival's militant past. Mr Lacalle has crafted a political comeback 14 years after leaving office when his senior aides were accused of corruption.

As well as presidential and congressional elections, voters also took part in a referendum. That will decide whether to revoke a law which gives immunity to former security officials accused of human rights abuses during Uruguay's period of military rule.
Interesting times in Uruguay. How is Hugo Chavez sleeping these days?

Posted by: Steve White 2009-10-26
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=281814