A Narrow Frente Amplio Victory in Uruguay

A former teacher and provincial mayor won a close runoff vote in Uruguay, signaling a return to the social welfare politics of the center-left Frente Amplio coalition.

In November of 1984, when open elections were held in Uruguay for the first time after more than a decade of dictatorship, Yamandú Orsi was 17 years old. He remembers the democratic exercise as “a breath of fresh air” that “flooded through me, and there it has remained.” Orsi proceeded to get involved in local politics, and went on to become a high school history teacher in his hometown of Canelones, about an hour outside of Montevideo, before entering local politics in 2015. On Sunday, he was elected as Uruguay’s next president with the progressive Frente Amplio coalition. Orsi earned 49.8 percent of the vote in a tightly contested runoff against his opponent Álvaro Delgado of the Partido Nacional, who earned 45.9 percent.

In important ways, the context of his entry into politics has shaped his national and international outlook ever since. Coming of age in the wake of Uruguay’s most repressive period of rule, Orsi brings a moderate, civil, and democratic set of policies embedded in the social welfare framework of the Frente Amplio’s rule. These perspectives are likely to take center stage when he takes the oath of office in March 2025.

For the rest of the article, please go to this NACLA link, where the full article I wrote was published yesterday!