Uruguay set for first left-wing president

Tabare Vazquez was apparently poised to become the first leftist president of Uruguay last night after surging ahead of his two rivals in the presidential elections.

Tabare Vazquez was apparently poised to become the first leftist president of Uruguay last night after surging ahead of his two rivals in the presidential elections.

Mr Vazquez, 64, who has campaigned for more distribution of wealth and social justice in a nation crippled by a recent economic crisis, declared victory last night after he emerged with between 50.9 and 53 per cent of the vote, according to exit polls.

If the official vote count confirms that he has won more than 50 per cent plus one vote, Mr Vazquez will become the country's first leftist leader, mirroring a region-wide political shift to the left.

Mr Vazquez, a cancer specialist and former mayor of Montevideo who was running against two other candidates, was making his third bid for office. President Jorge Batlle is barred from running for a second consecutive term.

The contest was largely between Mr Vazquez and Jorge Larranaga of the National Party. Guillermo Stirling, of Uruguay's ruling Colorado Party, was trailing a distant third. Five opinion polls also indicated that Mr Vazquez would win. But Mr Larranaga has insisted that he will marshal enough votes to force a run-off. The 48-year-old former senator has pledged to get people back to work in a nation where the unemployment rate is near 14 per cent. Mr Stirling has cast himself as a choice for a continuation of the country's traditionally sound fiscal policies.

A victory by Mr Vazquez, who leads the Broad Front coalition of moderate leftists, Communists and former guerrillas, would mark a dramatic political shift in this traditional US ally. It also would break a decades-long hold on the presidency by the two largest parties. Economic turmoil has brought leftist leaders to power in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Venezuela. All are challenging US policy toward the region.

Mr Vazquez promised to help create jobs and assured businesses he wants their support to help the country of 3.4 million people to sustain a recovery from the 2002 economic crisis.

Viviana Valente, a 37-year-old housewife, planned to support Mr Vazquez, ending years of voting for the Colorado Party. "This last government has generated poverty and misery. It's time someone else had a chance," she said.

Long one of Latin America's most stable economies, spillover from Argentina's economic meltdown pushed Uruguay into an economic depression in which the economy shrank by 11 per cent two years ago. A third of Uruguayans fell below the poverty line and thousands emigrated to Europe and the United States. Analysts say Mr Vazquez's lead was due to his opposition to US-backed free-market policies popular during the 1990s. Some of these policies are seen by many Latin Americans as the cause of the region's financial turmoil.

Eschewing the large-scale privatisation implemented by Argentina and Brazil, Uruguay has taken a more cautious approach to opening its economy. Uruguayans have recently defeated plebiscites aimed at privatising state companies.