The contest within the Broad Front (FA), the leftist coalition that has been in office since 2005, did not produce any major surprises in Uruguay. The former mayor of Montevideo, engineer Daniel Martínez, got 42% of the votes, leading his competitors by a large margin. The campaign showed a high degree of unity within the Broad Front rank-and-file, and between the four candidates. Carolina Cosse, with the support of the Popular Participation Movement, Oscar Andrade (Communist Party), Mario Bergara (independent) and Daniel Martínez (Socialist) all stood under a single government program.
The balance that the primary left behind, however, was not so positive for the Broad Front: compared to the 2014 primary, 44,188 fewer votes were cast this time. These results, which are clearly below expectations, raise some concerns about the Broad Front’s electoral performance after 15 years in government. The Broad Front must now face up to multiple challenges like dealing with the erosion due to its uninterrupted three-terms in office, the renewal of its leading figures (Tabaré Vázquez, Pepe Mujica and Danilo Astori were not candidates at the primaries), the growth of the right, and of the conservative discourse and authoritarian neoliberalism throughout the Southern Cone.
