'Pink party' experiment falls flat for Uruguay's reeling right.
| Autor | Gaudin, Andres |
Recent departmental elections in Uruguay confirmed the growing strength of the governing Frente Amplio (FA), a progressive coalition in power since 2005, and underscored just how much the two conservative parties that dominated the small country beforehand have fallen, vote after vote, into discredit.
The Partido Nacional (PN or Blanco) and Partido Colorado (PC) were born in 1836 amid the clash of war unleashed by the ambitions of their civilian caudillos. They lost control of the country nearly two centuries later, in 2005, when the FA began the first of its three consecutive presidencies and also managed to capture a few departmental governorships (NotiSur, March 4, 2005, and May 20, 2005).
Their troubles continued on May 10, when voters went to the polls to choose intendentes (governors) and legislative assemblies for the country's 19 departments. The elections raised major questions about the leadership and future of the two parties (above all the PC), which were particularly embarrassed by the strong showing, in Montevideo, of a nonaffiliated businessman with undisguised right-wing nationalist ideas.
The FA, in contrast, had reason to celebrate, especially its victory in the Montevideo intendente race, which was won by a relatively new face, something the coalition, founded in 1971 and still dominated by its original, retirement-aged leaders, desperately needs as it looks toward the next round of elections in 2019. The FA began this past election cycle with victories in the first- and second-round presidential contests, held last October and November, respectively (NotiSur, Nov. 14, 2014, and Dec. 12, 2014). The governing coalition completed the cycle by winning six governorships in last month's local elections. The PN won 12. The once-powerful PC finished with just one.
Prior to 2005, with the exception of just two presidential periods, the PC had sole control of the national government, including in times of dictatorship (because the dictators were also Colorados). Departmental governorships, in the meantime, were divided practically in half between the PC and PN--until 1990, when the FA took control of Montevideo, Uruguay's capital city and home to more than half its eligible voters. The PC remained a force to be reckoned with even after that, winning seven governorships in 1995. Its decline began with the next election, in 2000, when it won five governorships. The party lost even more ground in 2005, winning just one governorship...
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