Uruguay - presidential election

Ex-guerrilla heads for presidency

Article published on the 2009-10-25 Latest update 2009-10-25 13:04 TU

Former guerrilla leader and Uruguay presidential candidate Jose Mujica casts his vote
(Photo: Reuters)

Uruguayans vote in a presidential election on Sunday, with Jose Mujica, a former guerrilla leader, expected to win. After a colourful career under military dictatorship, he now leads the Broad Front movement.

Mujica, better known as Pepe to most Uruguayans, was shot nine times and escaped from jail twice, when he led the Tupamaros guerrilla movement in the 1970s and 1980s.

His main rivals are former President Luis Lacalle of the right-wing National Party and Pedro Bordaberry, son of the military ruler from 1973-1975, who leads the Colorado Party.

Polls put Mujica well ahead and he could win the 50 per cent he needs to avoid a second round.

He is expected to carry on with the left-wing economic policies of outgoing President Tabare Vazquez, who cannot stand again after completing his five-year term.

Mujica was jailed in 1970 under an elected government and kept in jail when the military took over in 1973. He escaped twice but was recaptured and spent long periods in solitary confinement before being freed in a general amnesty in 1985.

He is married to a senator who is also a former Tupamaro and became a Member of ¨Parliament in 1995, when the guerrilas became a legal party and joined the Broad Front.

Voters will also cast their ballots in a referendum on whether to scrap an amnesty for military and police personnel accusd of crimes under military rule.

During  the Vazquez government ten former military government members wer sent to prison. The last military ruler, Gregorio Alvarez, was jailed for 25 years for murder and rights violations.