Politics of Uruguay | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Polity type | Unitarypresidentialconstitutionalrepublic |
| Constitution | Constitution of Uruguay |
| Legislative branch | |
| Name | General Assembly |
| Type | Bicameral |
| Meeting place | Legislative Palace of Uruguay |
| Upper house | |
| Name | Senate |
| Presiding officer | Carolina Cosse,Vice President of Uruguay & President of the Senate |
| Lower house | |
| Name | Chamber of Representatives |
| Presiding officer | Sebastián Valdomir |
| Executive branch | |
| Head of state andgovernment | |
| Title | President |
| Currently | Yamandú Orsi |
| Cabinet | |
| Current cabinet | Cabinet of Uruguay |
| Headquarters | Executive Tower |
| Ministries | 14 |
| Judicial branch | |
| Name | Judiciary of Uruguay |
| Supreme Court | |
| Chief judge | Doris Morales Martínez |
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 Uruguay portal |
Thepolitics of Uruguay abide by apresidentialrepresentative democraticrepublic, under which thepresident of Uruguay is both thehead of state and thehead of government, as well as a multiform party system. The president exercisesexecutive power, whilelegislative power is vested in the two chambers of theGeneral Assembly of Uruguay. TheJudiciary is independent from the executive and legislature.
The Colorado and National parties have been locked in a power struggle, with the predominance of the Colorado party throughout most ofUruguay's history. The2004 election, however, brought theEncuentro Progresista-Frente Amplio-Nueva Mayoría, a coalition of socialists, formerTupamaros, communists, social democrats, and Christian Democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament. A majority vote elected PresidentTabaré Vázquez.
In2009, the Broad Front once again won the elections with a plurality of the votes. A presidential runoff was triggered because their candidate,José Mujica, received only 47.96 percent of the vote. The Broad Front's candidate beat former presidentLuis Alberto Lacalle Herrera of theNacional Party in the second round of voting. In addition to the presidency, the Broad Front won a simple majority in the Uruguayan Senate and Chamber of Representatives.[1] In2014, former president Tabaré Vázquez retook power after defeating, in a second round, the candidate of the National Party,Luis Lacalle Pou, who would be the winner of the2019 election, surpassing the socialistDaniel Martínez with 50.79 to 49.2 percent of the vote.[2] The2024 election was won byYamandú Orsi, a former Intendant of Canelones Department. He was inaugurated on 1 March 2025, meaning the left-wing coalition, the Broad Front, returned to power after a five-year interruption.[3]
According to theV-Dem Democracy indices Uruguay is 2023 the 4th mostelectoral democratic country in Latin America.[4]
Until 1919, and from 1934 to 1952, Uruguay's political system, based on the1830 Constitution, was presidential with strong executive power, similar to that of the United States (but centralized rather than federal). It was also characterized by the rivalry between the two traditional parties, the liberalColorado Party and the conservativeBlanco Party (or National Party).[5][6] Historically, the Blancos represented the interests of rural property, the Church and the military hierarchy, while the Colorados were supported by urban movable property and reformist intellectuals.
In the 19th century, Uruguay had similar characteristics to otherLatin American countries, includingcaudillism, civil wars and permanent instability (40 revolts between 1830 and 1903), control of important economic sectors in the hands of foreign capital, a high rate of illiteracy (more than half the population in 1900), and a landed oligarchy.[7][8] YetMontevideo became a refuge forArgentine exiles fleeing the dictatorship ofJuan Manuel de Rosas and maintained a reputation as a welcoming place for "advanced" ideas of political and social protest. In 1842, the newspaperLe Messager français devoted a special issue to the memory ofCharles Fourier. During theGreat Siege of Montevideo (1843-1851), Garibaldi's redshirts fought against Rosas' attacking forces. In 1875, workers founded a section of theInternational.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Uruguay became the most politically and socially advanced state on the continent. The liberalJosé Batlle y Ordóñez (in power between 1903 and 1907, then between 1911 and 1915) was the main architect of this transformation; freedom of expression and the press was affirmed, as was that of suffrage. A system of proportional representation was adopted to allow for the representation of minorities. This period also saw theabolition of the death penalty, a fight against administrative corruption, and the introduction of secularism andwomen's suffrage.
On the economic level, Batlle stated that "industry must not be allowed to destroy human beings...on the contrary the State must regulate it in order to make the lives of the masses happier." An economic policy ofdirigisme was thus undertaken, nationalizing many sectors of the economy (railways, telephone, electricity, among others). "Batllism" also took the form of social measures, including the introduction of free and compulsory primary education, maternity leave and theeight-hour day, as well as support for trade unions and the recognition of the right to strike. All this legislation, which was very advanced for its time, made Uruguay a progressive social democracy.[9]
Uruguay adopted its first constitution in 1830, following the conclusion of a three-year war in whichArgentina and Uruguay fought as a regional federation: theUnited Provinces of the Río de la Plata. Sponsored by theUnited Kingdom, the1828 Treaty of Montevideo built the foundations for a Uruguayan state and constitution. A constitution proposed under the military dictatorship government was rejected by a referendum in 1980.
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Uruguay's Constitution of 1967 created a strongpresidency, subject tolegislative andjudicial balance. Many of these provisions were suspended in 1973 but reestablished in 1985. Thepresident, who is both thehead of state and thehead of government, is elected bypopular vote for a five-year term, with the vice president elected on the same ticket. The president must act together with theCouncil of Ministers, which comprisescabinet ministers, appointed by the president. Thirteen ministers head variousexecutive departments. The ministers can be removed by the General Assembly by a majority vote.
TheConstitution amendment establishes the requirements for becoming president. Article 151 establishes that the president must be anatural-born citizen of the country, or have been born to a Uruguayan citizen if born abroad. The president must also be at least 35 years old and be registered in the National Civic Registry.[10] The current president since 1 March 2025 isYamandú Orsi.
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TheGeneral Assembly (Asamblea General) has twochambers. TheChamber of Representatives (Cámara de Representantes) has 99 members, elected for a five-year term byproportional representation with at least two members per department. TheChamber of Senators (Cámara de Senadores) has 31 members; 30 members are elected for a five-year term byproportional representation and the Vice-president who presides over it.
Thejudiciary of Uruguay is headed by theSupreme Court of Justice, whose members are appointed by theGeneral Assembly through a two-thirds majority and whose terms last ten years. The Supreme Court of Justice is the last instance of appeal and is also in charge of judging the constitutionality of the laws. The judiciary is also made up of Courts of Appeals, District Courts and Peace Courts, as well as Conciliation Courts, Mediation Centers, and Misdemeanour Courts. Other dependencies of the Uruguayan judiciary are the Public Defender Office, the Forensic Technical Institute, and the Center for Judiciary Studies.
The Uruguayan political system allows citizens to use direct democracy mechanisms to directly take political decisions on the current legal system without intermediaries. These mechanisms are thereferendums to repeal recently approved laws,plebiscites to propose changes to the Constitution and the power of citizens to drivepopular initiatives such as to propose referendums, to propose law drafts to the Parliament, to reform the Constitution and to deal with departmental matters.[11]
 | This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(March 2025) |
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| Party | Presidential candidate | First round | Second round | Seats | |||||||
| Votes | % | Votes | % | Chamber | +/– | Senate | +/– | ||||
| Broad Front | Daniel Martínez | 949,376 | 40.49 | 1,152,271 | 49.21 | 42 | –8 | 13 | –2 | ||
| National Party | Luis Alberto Lacalle Pou | 696,452 | 29.70 | 1,189,313 | 50.79 | 30 | –2 | 10 | 0 | ||
| Colorado Party | Ernesto Talvi | 300,177 | 12.80 | 13 | 0 | 4 | 0 | ||||
| Open Cabildo | Guido Manini Ríos | 268,736 | 11.46 | 11 | New | 3 | New | ||||
| Partido Ecologista Radical Intransigente | César Vega | 33,461 | 1.43 | 1 | +1 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Partido de la Gente | Edgardo Novick | 26,313 | 1.12 | 1 | +1 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Independent Party | Pablo Mieres | 23,580 | 1.01 | 1 | –2 | 0 | –1 | ||||
| Popular Unity | Gonzalo Abella [es] | 19,728 | 0.84 | 0 | –1 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Green Animalist Party | Gustavo Salle | 19,392 | 0.83 | 0 | New | 0 | New | ||||
| Digital Party | Daniel Goldman | 6,363 | 0.27 | 0 | New | 0 | New | ||||
| Workers' Party | Rafael Fernández Rodríguez [es] | 1,387 | 0.06 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 2,344,965 | 100.00 | 2,341,584 | 100.00 | 99 | 0 | 30 | 0 | |||
| Valid votes | 2,344,965 | 96.37 | 2,341,584 | 96.23 | |||||||
| Invalid votes | 44,802 | 1.84 | 53,588 | 2.20 | |||||||
| Blank votes | 43,597 | 1.79 | 38,024 | 1.56 | |||||||
| Total votes | 2,433,364 | 100.00 | 2,433,196 | 100.00 | |||||||
| Registered voters/turnout | 2,699,978 | 90.13 | 2,699,980 | 90.12 | |||||||
| Source:Corte Electoral (first round);Corte Electoral (second round) | |||||||||||
Uruguay or Uruguayan organizations participate in the following international organizations:
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