Polls open in Uruguay, focus on Mujica heir
Polls open in Uruguay, focus on Mujica heir
October 27, 2014
Montevideo: Polls opened in Uruguay on Sunday to elect a successor to folksy iconoclast President Jose Mujica, whose leftist coalition is fighting off youthful challengers from the country’s more conservative traditional parties.
Polling began at 8:00am with Mujica looking to hand power back to his predecessor, cancer doctor Tabare Vazquez of the Broad Front, who needs 50 per cent plus one vote to avoid a runoff with Luis Lacalle Pou of the National Party or Pedro Bordaberry, the son of a former dictator who is running on the Colorado ticket.
A total of 2.6 million Uruguayans are eligible to vote in the mandatory presidential and general election and will turn out across nearly 6,950 polling stations.
Surrounded by supporters, Mujica — famous for legalising marijuana sales, living in a run-down house and donating most of his salary to charity — was one of the first to vote in his Cerro neighbourhood west of Montevideo. He arrived in an old Volkswagen, accompanied by his wife, Senator Lucia Topolansky.
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