Luis Lacalle Pou wins the elections in Uruguay and ends 15 years of leftist government. The heir who ended the Frente Amplio (Broad Front party) cycle and will be the youngest elected president in Uruguayan history.
Son of former President Luis Alberto Lacalle and great-grandson of the leader of the Luis Alberto de Herrera National Party, he arrives at the government on his second attempt.
Luis Lacalle Pou has the paradoxical virtue of being a familiar face, as a member of a family of political tradition, and a refreshing figure for his youth and the renewal he represents in the National Party (PN). With these ingredients he came to the presidency of Uruguay after defeating in a hard-fought ballot the official candidate Daniel Martínez and thus ended the 15-year cycle of the Frente Amplio (FA) in the Uruguayan government.
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Lacalle Pou was born in a wealthy family in Montevideo. Second of four brothers, he studied in a private college and university where he studied law, although he never practiced. Now he also lives in a luxurious neighborhood in the Uruguayan capital with his wife and two children. Great-grandson of Luis Alberto de Herrera, the historic leader of the National Party that catapulted him to power, and the son of former President Luis Alberto Lacalle (1990-1995) and former Senator Julia Pou could only dedicate himself to politics.
Thus, two years after finishing his university studies, he threw himself into the political arena, being elected as a national deputy, a position he revalidated twice, the last in 2010. He has forged his entire career in Congress.
In 2014, he decided to go one step further and opted for a presidential candidacy. After prevailing in the primary elections, he was in the first round at a distance of 17 percentage points from the FA candidate, Tabaré Vázquez. In the ballot, he reduced the difference to 13, just as far away from Vázquez, who returned to power.
This year he decided to try again, after overcoming for the second time the internal screening of the National Party and with the Broad Front extremely weakened after fifteen years of government.
In the first round held on October 27th, Martinez took almost 10 points ahead of Lacalle Pou. However, the opponent managed to get the backing of the main opposition blocks, which outlined him as the big favorite for the ballot.
To his credit he has the popularity and political solvency of his family and, at the same time, with the fact of being the youngest presidential candidate in the country's history, a breath of fresh air just when Uruguayans seem to seek alternatives to the Frente Amplio .
In addition, he has declared himself willing to form a coalition government that would include members of the main parties: the National (center-right), the Colorado (center), Cabildo Open (ultra-right) and even the Broad Front (left).
On March 1st 2020, with 46 years, he will become the democratically youngest President-elect in the history of Uruguay.
Source: Infobae
