General elections were held in

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

on 26 October 2014, alongside a

constitutional referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

. As no presidential candidate received an absolute majority in the first round of voting, a

runoff Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to: * RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program * Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed * Runoff or run-off, a stock marke ...

took place on 30 November.

Primary elections Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the c ...

to determine each party's presidential candidate had been held on 1 June. Incumbent President

José Mujica José Alberto "Pepe" Mujica Cordano (; born 20 May 1935) is a Uruguayan politician, former revolutionary and farmer who served as the 40th president of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015. A former guerrilla with the Tupamaros, he was tortured and im ...

was ineligible to run owing to a constitutional limit on serving consecutive terms. The governing Broad Front nominated Mujica's predecessor,

Tabaré Vázquez Tabaré Ramón Vázquez Rosas (; ''Vázquez Rosas'' locally ; 17 January 19406 December 2020) was a Uruguayan politician who served as the 41st president of Uruguay from 2015 to 2020. He previously served from 2005 to 2010 as the 39th presiden ...

, as its candidate. Vázquez came within a few thousand votes of a first-round victory and advanced to the runoff with National Party candidate

Luis Alberto Lacalle Pou Luis Alberto Aparicio Alejandro Lacalle Pou (; ''Luis Lacalle'' locally or ; born 10 August 1973) is a Uruguayan politician and lawyer serving as President of Uruguay since 1 March 2020. Son of former president Luis Alberto Lacalle, Lacalle P ...

, son of former president Luis Alberto Lacalle de Herrera. In the runoff, Vázquez was returned to office with the widest margin since the run-off system was first implemented in 1999. The Broad Front also maintained its majority in the Chamber of Deputies, winning 50 of the 99 seats.

Electoral system

The president was elected using the

two-round system The two-round system (TRS), also known as runoff voting, second ballot, or ballotage, is a voting method used to elect a single candidate, where voters cast a single vote for their preferred candidate. It generally ensures a majoritarian resu ...

, with a run-off required if no candidate received 50% of the vote in the first round. The 30 members of the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

were elected by proportional representation in a single nationwide constituency. The 99 members of the Chamber of Representatives were elected by proportional representation in 19 multi-member constituencies based on the departments. Seats are allocated using the

highest averages method A highest-averages method, also called a divisor method, is a class of methods for allocating seats in a parliament among agents such as political parties or federal states. A divisor method is an iterative method: at each iteration, the number ...

. The elections were held using the double simultaneous vote method, whereby voters cast a single vote for the party of their choice for the Presidency, the Senate and the Chamber of Representatives.

Candidates

Presidential primaries The presidential primary elections and caucuses held in the various states, the District of Columbia, and territories of the United States form part of the nominating process of candidates for United States presidential elections. The United S ...

were held on 1 June to select the candidates.

Campaign

There were around 250,000 new voters in this election, many of them not used to traditional media. Campaign managers and advertising agents took notice of this new trend, and implemented an important portion of their campaign via

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

Opinion polls

Results

Within the Broad Front coalition, the

Movement of Popular Participation The Movement of Popular Participation ( es, Movimiento de Participación Popular) is a Uruguayan political party. It is a member organisation of the left-wing Broad Front coalition. Background From 1985 onwards, after the end of the military d ...

won six seats in the Senate, the

Liber Seregni Front The Liber Seregni Front () was the name of the centre-left faction inside the Frente Amplio which was created by Danilo Astori leader of Uruguay Assembly, Rafael Michelini leader of New Space and Rodolfo Nin Novoa, leader of Progressive Allian ...

won three and the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...

won two. Following the second round of the presidential elections, the Broad Front gained an extra seat in the Senate, giving them a majority, as Vice President

Raúl Fernando Sendic Rodríguez Raúl Fernando Sendic Rodríguez (born 29 August 1962) is a Uruguayan politician. He was the Vice President of Uruguay from 1 March 2015 to 13 September 2017. Family background and early life Sendic was born in Paysandú, Uruguay in 1962; hi ...

automatically became a member.

By department

References

External links

Electoral Process in Uruguay 2014-2015

Electoral Court of Uruguay The Electoral Court of Uruguay ( es, Corte Electoral de Uruguay) is the autonomous body which oversees the implementation of electioneering process, such as elections, referendums on laws and constitutional plebiscites in the Oriental Republic of ...

{{Uruguayan elections Elections in Uruguay

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

Tabaré Vázquez