Uruguay: Uruguay Government Profile

Tabaré Vázquez President

Tabaré Ramón Vázquez Rosas is a Uruguayan politician who has been President of Uruguay since 2015. He previously served as President from 2005 to 2010. A physician by training, he is a member of the leftist Frente Amplio coalition.

Born: Jan 17, 1940 (age 75) · Montevideo, Uruguay
Spouse: María Auxiliadora Delgado
Offices: President of Uruguay (2015 - present) · President pro tempore of the Union of South American Nations (2015 - present)
Previous offices: President of Uruguay (2005 - 2010) · Intendant of Montevideo (1990 - 1994)
Party: Broad Front
Education: University of the Republic

Uruguay - Government

The constitution of 1830 underwent numerous revisions, notably in 1917, 1934, 1952, and 1966. This constitution provided for a republican government, divided into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. From 1951 to 1966, the executive consisted of a colegiado, or council, of nine ministers, six from the majority party and three from the minority. In the 1966 elections, however, the electorate reinstated the positions of president and a vice president, popularly elected for a five-year term, together with a council of ministers.

According to the constitutional revision of 1966, the congress (or General Assembly) consisted of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. The Senate had 30 popularly elected senators, plus the vice president of the republic as the thirty-initial voting member. The Chamber of Deputies had 99 deputies, popularly elected by departments (provinces). The right to vote was extended to all citizens 18 years of age or older, with female suffrage in local elections as early as 1919 and in national elections in 1934.

From June 1973, at the same time as President Bordaberry dissolved the Assembly and suspended the constitution, until March 1985, Uruguay was ruled by executive decree, subject to veto by the military, with legislative functions carried out by the 25-member Council of National, appointed by the executive. A new constitution, providing for the permanent participation of the armed forces in government by means of a National Security Council, was drafted by the Council of National but rejected by 57.2% of the voters in a referendum on 30 November 1980.

In March 1985, democracy was restored under President Sanguinetti; in July, the government set up a National Constituent Assembly to devise constitutional reforms that would be submitted to the electorate for ratification. In the elections of November 1994, the proposed reform of 14 articles of the constitution was again rejected, this time by 63% of Uruguayan voters.

Political parties

Uruguay has Latin America's oldest two-party system. The Colorados (reds) and Blancos (whites), formed during the conflicts of the 1830s and 1840s, persisted into the 1990s. The Colorados are traditional Latin American liberals, representing urban business interests, and favoring limitation on the power of the Catholic Church. The Blancos (officially called the National Party) are conservatives, defenders of large landowners and the Church.

For additional than 90 years, until the 1958 elections, the executive power was controlled by the Colorados. Under such leaders as Batlle, the party promulgated a progressive program advocating public education, advanced labor laws, government ownership of public utilities, and separation of church and national. Next eight years of Blanco government, the Colorado party regained power in the 1966 election.

The results of the November 1971 balloting were so close that the final tabulation took additional than two months to ascertain; the Colorados won 36.3% of the vote; the Blancos, 35.7%; and the Broad Front (Frente Amplio, a left-wing coalition that included the Tupamaros), 16.6%. These three groups, plus the Christian Democratic Party (Partido Democrático Cristiano—PDC), formed in 1962 from the former Catholic Civic Union, made up the Uruguayan party system at the time of the military takeover.

Political activities were suspended following the constitutional crisis of June 1973, and in December 1973 the Communist and Socialist parties were outlawed. In June 1980, the military began to liberalize, as they permitted political meetings of nonleftist groups. In November 1982, they allowed for intraparty elections in each of three parties: the Colorados, the National Party (Blancos), and the small Civic Union (an outgrowth of the Christian Democrats). In the voting, party candidates who had campaigned against the military's proposed constitution in 1980 took additional than 60% of the vote.

Neither Blanco leader Wilson Ferreira Aldunate nor Broad Front leader Líber Seregni Mosquera was allowed to participate in the elections, but both retained their party posts. In the November 1984 elections, Colorado candidate Julio María Sanguinetti Cairolo won the presidency with 38.6% of the vote. The Colorados as well won pluralities in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. Aldunate and Seregni frequently consulted with President Sanguinetti, and before outlawed parties were legalized. In 1985, the PDC and FIDEL belonged to the Broad Front, and the National Liberation Movement (Movimiento de Liberación Nacional—MLN), as well known as the Tupamaros, reconstituted years next their destruction in 1973, announced their intention to give up violence and join the Broad Front as a legal party.

In 1989, Blanco candidate Lacalle took 37% of the vote. Jorge Batlle, of the Colorado party, unable to capitalize on name recognition, received 29%, while Liber Seregni Mosquera of the Broad Front received 20%. The Blancos as well carried a plurality in each home of the legislature, followed respectively by the Colorados, the Broad Front, and the "New Space (or Sector)" Coalition, which consists of the PDC and the Civic Union.

As additional people grow disenchanted with market reforms in Latin America, leftist coalitions have become additional palatable to voters. In Argentina and Chile, the center-left was in power in 2000. In Uruguay, the Broad Coalition candidate Tabaré Vazquez made an impressive show at the polls, finishing initial with 39% of the vote in the October 1999 presidential election. His success forced historic foes Blancos and Colorados to back Jorge Batlle in the November runoff election. While Batlle persevered, the leftist coalition managed to increase its total vote behind Vazquez (45.9%). The Batlle presidency has been characterized by a further weakening of the traditional parties. Faced by the opposition of the Broad Front, Battle has been forced to rely on the 22 deputies and 7 senators from the National Party that, together with the 33 deputies and 10 senators from the Colorado party, comprise a majority in the 99-seat Chamber of Deputies and 31-seat Senate.

Judicial system

Most of the country's legal system was suspended in 1973, but in 1981, the military government restored the independence of the civilian judiciary. In that year, a Supreme Judicial Council was empowered to name Supreme Court justices and supervise the judiciary. Below the Supreme Court are appellate courts and lower civil and criminal courts, justices of the peace, electoral and administrative courts, and an accounts court. A parallel military court system operates under its own procedure. At the same time as the Supreme Court hears cases involving the military, two military justices join the Court. Civilians are tried in the military court only in time of war or insurrection. The judiciary is structurally independent of the executive and this separation of powers is respected in practice.

The constitution prohibits the arbitrary interference with privacy, family, home, or correspondence, and the government authorities respect these provisions in practice.

The legal system is based on Spanish civil law. Uruguay accepts the compulsory jurisdiction of the international court of justice.