MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) – A former guerrilla fighter was poised yesterday to become the next president of Uruguay, pledging to maintain the ruling leftist coalition’s moderate policies in one of Latin America’s most stable economies.
Jose Mujica, 74, who waged an armed revolt against a democratically elected government in the 1960s and 1970s and was jailed for 14 years, has at least a 6-point lead in polls over his centre-right rival, former President Luis Lacalle.
A Mujica victory would keep in power the ruling Broad Front coalition credited by many Uruguayans with lifting the country out of an economic slump earlier this decade and stoking growth this year in the face of the global slowdown.
Mujica, a farmer and former agriculture minister and senator, vows to continue investor-friendly policies that have helped the economy expand for six straight years.
He campaigned praising Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Latin America’s leading moderate leftist, signalling he does not intend to bring Uruguay closer to more hard-line leaders like Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Mujica won the most votes in the election’s first round on Oct. 25, finishing with 48 per cent to 29 per cent for Lacalle, and falling just short of the outright majority needed to avoid a second round. The winner in the runoff assumes office on March 1 for a five-year term.
Lacalle has raised questions about Mujica’s militant past, suggesting his opponent would be a more radical leader than he has portrayed himself in the campaign.