Former guerrilla Mujica wins Uruguayan presidency

Nov 30, 2009, 0:07 GMT

Montevideo - Jose Mujica, a former leftist guerrilla who spent 15 years in prison, won Sunday's presidential runoff in Uruguay.

His second-round opponent, former president Luis Alberto Lacalle (1990-95), conceded defeat, after two separate exit polls by the survey firms Factum and Equipos gave Mujica 51 per cent to 44 per cent for Lacalle.

The remainder of the votes were estimated to be blank or invalid.

'Mujica is the president of all Uruguayans,' the conservative Lacalle told supporters in Montevideo. 'We have to accept it.'

A senator and nominee of the ruling coalition Frente Amplio (Broad Front), Mujica celebrated at a post-election rally.

'You know something, people?' the apparent winner asked. 'It is you who should be on the stage, with us clapping for you.'

Despite bad weather, Mujica's supporters started to gather late Sunday outside the Broad Front's election-day headquarters in a Montevideo hotel.

In victory, Mujica called for reconciliation.

'Let us remember in a night of joy that there are compatriots who feel sad and who are our blood brothers,' he said. 'That is why there are no winners or losers.'

The Broad Front already obtained Congressional majority in the legislative elections on October 25, when Mujica won the first round of the presidential election with 48 per cent to Lacalle's 29 per cent as runner up.

Polling stations opened at 1000 GMT and closed 11-and-a-half hours later. The first preliminary official results were expected later Sunday.

There were no major incidents during the voting, though some delays were reported. Helicopters were needed to take ballot boxes to some areas where flooding from heavy rain in recent weeks had cut off roads.

Mujica, 74, had been heavily favoured to win.

The Frente Amplio first took power in 2005, and President Tabare Vazquez, whose five-year term is expiring, led a successful reformist government that has retained the approval of about 60 per cent of the population, according to opinion surveys. He was banned from running because Uruguayan law forbids consecutive presidential terms.

If his victory is confirmed, Mujica's inauguration is scheduled for March 1.