Uruguay votes for next president in closely fought runoff race
Orsi and Delgado vie for presidency with no sharp policy shifts
Both candidates aim to attract unaligned and non-voters from October
Polling stations open at 8 a.m. (1100 GMT) and close at 7:30 p.m.
Updates with polls opening, comments from voters in paragraphs 10, 13-14
By Lucinda Elliott
MONTEVIDEO, Nov 24 (Reuters) -Voters in South America's laid-back Uruguay, known for its beaches, legalized marijuana and stability, headed to the polls on Sunday for a second-round presidential race between moderates that closes out a bumper year for global elections.
The vote in the small nation of 3.4 million people sees opposition center-left candidate Yamandu Orsi take on continuity conservative runner, Alvaro Delgado, who has the backing of a third-placed ally.
Ahead of Sunday's election, opinion polls suggested the Nov. 24 runoff promised to be razor tight, with fewer than 25,000 votes potentially separating the two contenders.
Unlike sharp right-left divides in recent elections in Argentina, Brazil or Mexico, Uruguay's political arena is relatively tension-free, with significant overlap between the conservative and liberal coalitions vying for office.
Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. (1100 GMT) and close at 7:30 p.m. local time, with the first results expected two hours later.
High living costs, inequality and violent crime are among Uruguyans' biggest worries, but inflation has been easing in the run-up to the election, and both employment and real salaries are on the rise.
President Luis Lacalle Pou, who belongs to Delgado's National Party, is popular but he cannot run for immediate re-election due to constitutional rules.
Orsi, who has pledged a "modern left" policy approach, won 43.9% of the first-round October vote for the Broad Front and will face Delgado, who secured 26.8% but also has the backing of the conservative Colorado Party that together with his National Party made up almost 42% of votes. The two parties did the same in 2019, winning the election.
Orsi has sought to reassure Uruguayans that he does not plan a sharp policy shift in the traditionally moderate and relatively wealthy nation.
Construction worker, Ruben Parada, 44, a resident of the capital, Montevideo, said he was voting for Orsi because his Broad Front "thought less about the rich" and would do more to help working people.
Conservative Delgado, meanwhile, has asked voters to "re-elect a good government," seeking to capitalize on the popularity of Pou.
ECONOMIC SUCCESSES
While the ruling coalition is struggling to defend its record on fighting crime and over several corruption scandals, it hopes economic successes may be enough to convince voters to choose continuity over change.
"They did more in five years than the Broad Front did in 15 years," said 38-year-old Jaqueline Fleitas, who cast her second-round ballot for Delgado, mentioning the construction of a hospital near her home in Montevideo.
"There's still work to do, so we need five more years of this government," she added.
Neither coalition has an absolute majority in the lower house following October's elections. But Orsi's Broad Front won 16 of 30 Senate seats. He says his Senate majority puts him in a better position to lead the next government.
Both contenders on Sunday are hoping to attract the roughly 8% of first-round voters who went for smaller, unaligned parties, as well as those who failed to turn out in October.
But neither made new pledges in the final weeks of campaigning, and pollsters say a televised debate on Nov. 17 appears to have had little effect.
One question as the biggest year for elections in history comes to an end is whether Uruguay will buck a global trend of incumbent parties losing vote share compared with the previous election. Voters hurt by inflation have punished parties in power, including in Britain, Japan and the United States.
A robust Uruguayan economy though could help Delgado on Sunday: "There are few indications that voters are clamoring for significant political change," said Uruguayan analyst Nicolas Saldias of the Economist Intelligence Unit.
Uruguay election: a photo finish? https://reut.rs/3UW2gKW
Reporting by Lucinda Elliott in Montevideo;
Editing by Daniel Wallis and Helen Popper
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