Uruguay's left-wing Yamandu Orsi wins presidential runoff

Nov. 25 (UPI) -- Uruguay's left-wing opposition Broad Front candidate, Yamandú Orsi, claimed victory in Sunday's presidential runoff, besting Álvaro Delgado of the conservative ruling National Party.

"I will be the president of national growth, the president of a country that moves forward," Orsi said, according to a statement from the Broad Front.

"Let us embrace the idea that Uruguay is one."

Delgado also conceded defeat Sunday night, issuing a statement congratulating Orsi on the win.

"Count on us in building the agreements that Uruguay needs to continue moving toward development," he said on Facebook.

With 99% of votes counted, Orsi secured 49.8% of the ballot share, compared to Delgado's 45.9%, El Pais reported, adding that more than 90,000 votes separated the candidates.

With the victory, the Broad Front, which ran the country for three consecutive terms from 2005 to 2020, returns to helm of Uruguay.

President Luis Lacalle Pou of the National Party had called Orsi to congratulate him before the race had even been called.

In a statement, Lacalle Pou said he called the president-elect "to put myself at his service and begin the transition as soon as I deem it appropriate."

Under Uruguay law, a president cannot run for consecutive five-year terms.

Orsi had campaigned on improving the economic situation of the South American nation, where the public ranked the economy and public safety among their most important concerns, according to Cifra consulting firm.

The president-elect's party had run focused on macroeconomic stability while improving income distribution, El Pais reported. It will seek to promote investment and increase productivity in a country where economic growth over the last decade has averaged about 1% annually.

"I will be the president who calls for national dialogue again and again," Orsi told his supports Sunday night in a victory speech. "The message cannot be other than to embrace the debate of ideas."

Later on Monday, U.S. President Joe Biden also congratulated Orsi and "the people of Uruguay for their unyielding commitment to democracy as they successfully exercised the fundamental right to vote."

Citing 150 years of diplomatic relations between Uruguay and the United States, Biden praised what he called "an enduring partnership based on our peoples' shared values" and noted that it has been Uruguay that has been at the vanguard of promoting democracy in the Americas.

Biden particularly noted Uruguay's leadership in the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity and its aim of more investment in innovations that create opportunities for the middle class throughout the hemisphere.