Uruguay election frontrunner Yamandu Orsi pledges a 'modern left'

By Lucinda Elliott

Uruguayan center-left opposition leader Yamandu Orsi, whose political ambitions were galvanized by his experience growing up in a dictatorship, is the pollsters' favorite to win the first round of the South American nation's presidential election on Sunday.

The 57-year-old former history teacher and local mayor is looking to unseat the ruling conservative bloc. Opinion polls suggest he will win the first round, but not by enough to avoid a second round run-off that promises to be a photo-finish.

Orsi has sought to reassure voters that he does not plan a sharp political shift in the traditionally moderate and relatively wealthy nation of 3.5 million people that is known for its beaches, legal cannabis and stable economy.

But he says he does want to usher in "a modern left" to tackle homelessness, poverty and crime, a key voter concern. Homicide rates in Uruguay have risen sharply in recent years, fueled by changing cocaine smuggling routes. The poverty rate is one of the lowest in the region and has dropped back down to pre-COVID levels this year, but charities say it continues to affect children disproportionately.

"The destiny and future of this country has to change," Orsi told Reuters in an interview in capital Montevideo, saying his center-left Broad Front coalition was the force to push that change by striking a different balance between social welfare and economic growth.

He has backing from leftist icon Jose "Pepe" Mujica, a former rebel-turned-president, but also moderate groups who like his business-friendly tone. Unlike many other countries in the region, Uruguay has rarely had divisive politics.

"I'm on the left, of course," Orsi said. "But in Uruguay the left has had many faces."

As mayor of Canelones, the country's second largest region, he lured prospective investors and eased local bureaucracy to attract international firms like Google, with some level of success. He has said he plans to avoid tax hikes despite a growing deficit, and instead focus on spurring faster growth.

Polls show Orsi well ahead in the Oct. 27 vote, which includes ruling conservative coalition candidate Alvaro Delgado and outsider conservative Andres Ojeda for the Colorado Party. However, voters for Delgado and Ojeda would likely join forces in a potential second round, as their two parties did during the 2019 election.

FOLKSY STYLE

Orsi is not universally popular.

Some voters Reuters spoke to said they worried he was indecisive and "short on ideas."

Other voters, however, liked that he was moderate and "open to dialogue," while supportive political colleagues said he represented a "generational shift" among Latin America's political left, balancing business needs and social welfare.

"He has practical experience," said Mujica, now 89, in an interview with Reuters earlier this year, championing Orsi as a political bridge-builder.

"He has a willingness to endure differences and is going to build a team. That's why we support him."

Orsi employs a casual, folksy style that in part mirrors Mujica - well known for his humble lifestyle that famously included driving an old VW Beetle to work during his 2010-2015 presidency.

Orsi is often photographed carrying traditional mate tea, walking his dog and dressing casually. He has said that, like Mujica, he would not live in the presidential residence if elected.

While he has been guarded on concrete policies - giving little away in discussion with Reuters - he has said he plans to boost funding to the prison system and strengthen cooperation with Europe on tackling drug crime.

Orsi says that politics was never part of his family life, growing up in a rural area of Canelones where his parents ran a small convenience store. But after elections in 1984 that led to the restoration of democracy, he got sucked into that world.

"Politics was a dirty word ... because we were living in a dictatorship," he said, referring to Uruguay's 1973-1985 period of civic-military rule, one of several dictatorships during that time in South America. Orsi was 17 when elections returned.

"That breath of fresh air back then flooded through me, and there it has remained," he said.