General elections were held in Uruguay on 31 October 1999, alongside a double referendum, with a second round of the presidential election on 28 November.

Dieter Nohlen Dieter Nohlen (born 6 November 1939) is a German academic and political scientist. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. An expe ...

(2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume II'', p494 The elections were the first in Uruguay since World War I that were not dominated by the Colorado Party and the National Party. The Broad Front had begun gaining popularity in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

, and had become a key player in Uruguayan politics by 1999.URUGUAY: parliamentary elections Camara de Senadores, 1999
IPU The Broad Front–Progressive Encounter alliance became the largest faction in the General Assembly, winning the most seats in both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. In the presidential elections, Tabaré Vázquez of the Broad Front received the most votes in the first round, but was defeated by Jorge Batlle of the Colorado Party in the second round. The National Party suffered the worst showing in its history, falling to third place in both chambers behind the Broad Front and Colorados. In the second round, Batlle formed an alliance with the National Party; according to '' The New York Times,'' the traditional parties' decision to put aside their rivalry of over a century and a half helped Batlle win the presidency on his fifth attempt.

Electoral system

Changes to the electoral law prior to the elections allowed third parties like the Broad Front a wider opportunity for participation. Parties were now required to hold primaries on the same day in April to elect a single presidential candidate; previously several candidates from a single party had been able to run for the presidency. The reforms also introduced the two-round system for the presidential election, with a candidate now required to receive over 50% of the vote to be elected in the first round, or face a run-off against the second-place candidate. Although the double simultaneous vote method (in which voters cast a single vote for the party of their choice for the Presidency, Senate and Chamber of Representatives) was retained, it prevented parties from submitting different lists. 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, whilst the 99 members of the Chamber of Representatives were elected by proportional representation in 19 multi-member constituencies based on the

departments Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

. Seats were 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 o ...

Campaign

The requirement to choose a single presidential candidate created tension in some parties. The National Party chose Luis Alberto Lacalle, who had been president from 1990 to 1995. The Colorado Party primaries were won by Jorge Batlle, whilst the Broad Front selected Tabaré Vázquez. The Colorado Party spent the most on the campaign, spending the equivalent of US$11.1m ($3.1m in the primaries and $8m in the main election). The Broad Front spend $8m ($670,000 during the primaries and $7.4m during the main campaign) and the National Party $7m ($2m in the primaries and $5m during the main election). Other parties spent $500,000 during both stages of the elections.

Results

Distribution by department

References

{{Uruguayan elections Uruguay Elections in Uruguay General Uruguay Uruguay Jorge Batlle