Uruguay heads for tight presidential run-off vote, rejects pension reform

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By Lucinda Elliott

MONTEVIDEO/TREINTA Y TRES (Reuters) -Uruguay is heading for a tight presidential election run-off next month after a first round on Sunday saw a center-left candidate come top ahead of two candidates who split the conservative vote.

Voters also rejected a controversial pension reform plan in one of two plebiscites.

Official results showed center-left presidential candidate Yamandu Orsi with some 1.06 million votes. That was well ahead of the ruling conservative coalition’s candidate, Alvaro Delgado, on 644,147 votes. In third place with 385,685 votes was Andres Ojeda, who has pledged to back Delgado.

The Nov. 24 run-off vote will take place because no candidate got more than 50% of the first-round vote.

The country of just 3.4 million people is known for its generally moderate politics, without the sharp right-left divides seen elsewhere in the region.

“We are the party that grew the most in this election,” Orsi said addressing crowds from a stage in Montevideo late on Sunday, pledging to keep the opposition’s momentum going. “We’re going for that last push, with more desire than ever.”

Delgado also struck a confident tone, saying he had the team to win the run-off and adding that Uruguayans now faced a binary choice between the two remaining candidates.

Supporters of Orsi’s Broad Front were generally buoyant, but noted the second round would be a tough contest given the combined conservative vote.

“A return of the Broad Front would mean a new cycle of renovation, progressive proposals ensuring economic growth, with better wealth distribution,” said 53-year-old Orsi backer Gabriela Balverde.

PENSION REFORM REJECTED

Uruguayans also voted down two binding plebiscites, the key one on pension reforms that would have lowered the retirement age by five years to 60 and boosted payouts. The other regarded boosting police powers to fight drug-related crime.

The prospect of a change to the country’s $22.5 billion private pension system had dragged on local markets in recent months and prompted jitters among investors and politicians.

The proposal was to scrap private pension schemes and shift to a public model, which analysts say would put a bigger debt burden on the state, create legal complexities around transferring pension funds, and put Uruguay’s investment-grade credit rating at risk.

In Treinta y Tres, a rural region of eastern Uruguay that has traditionally voted conservative, 60-year-old farm worker Ramon Silveira, said he had cast his ballot for continuity candidate Delgado, favoring stability over change.

“I want the trend of the last five years to continue.”

Miguel Angel Chirivao, 71, meanwhile, voted for Orsi’s Broad Front bloc, but was concerned the victory was narrower than hoped for and that could hurt the left in the second round.

“They had a poorer result than we expected,” he said.

(Reporting by Lucinda Elliott in MontevideoAdditional reporting by Ana Ferreira in Treinta y Tres, Uruguay and Daniela Desantis in AsuncionEditing by Adam Jourdan, Lisa Shumaker, Himani Sarkar and Frances Kerry)