Hopefully I am not pronouncing victory prematurely but it's pretty certain that the new President of Uruguay will be Pepe Mujica, candidate of the Frente Amplio, a coalition of leftist parties.
Amongst the coalition are former "Tupamaros", gorilla fighters that existed before and during the dictatorship of Uruguay in the 70s, I mention this as Pepe Mujica himself was one of these Tupamaros and despite his more extreme leftist politics, still managed to be elected in one of the more conservative Latin American countries.
In 2004, the people of Uruguay already proved that they were fed up with more conservative politics by electing a Frente Amplio candidate, Tabaré Vazquez. However, Tabaré is much more conservative than his fellow Amplista candidate Mujica and it was quite an event to see him and his party win once more.
As I sit here writing this article I can hear shouts and cheering, horns and absolute chaos. It's all pretty memorable watching it unfold!
Earlier today I also got to watch as Adrián casted his vote. Voting is on a Sunday and it's obligatory for the whole country. Machines are not used and there are no booths. You walk up to a table and show your credentials, they find your picture and fingerprint within the book of names that they have for your voting district and check you off the list. Then you are instructed to walk into a room, close the door and take out the folded piece of paper that has the picture of the president you want to elect. That's all! However, If there are any markings on the paper or anything else they do not count your vote and you must place it within the envelope without anyone seeing who you have voted for or it will also be disqualified.
