Politics of Uruguay | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Polity type | Unitary presidential constitutional republic |
| Constitution | Constitution of Uruguay |
| Legislative branch | |
| Name | General Assembly |
| Type | Bicameral |
| Meeting place | Legislative Palace of Uruguay |
| Upper house | |
| Name | Senate |
| Presiding officer | Beatriz Argimón, Vice President of Uruguay & President of the Senate |
| Lower house | |
| Name | Chamber of Representatives |
| Presiding officer | Ana Olivera |
| Executive branch | |
| Head of state and government | |
| Title | President |
| Currently | Luis Alberto Lacalle Pou |
| Cabinet | |
| Current cabinet | Cabinet of Uruguay |
| Headquarters | Executive Tower |
| Ministries | 14 |
| Judicial branch | |
| Name | Judiciary of Uruguay |
| Supreme Court | |
| Chief judge | Elena Martínez Rosso |
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 Uruguay portal |
 Uruguay topics |
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 Uruguay portal |
The politics of Uruguay abide by a presidential representative democratic republic, under which the president of Uruguay is both the head of state and the head of government, as well as a multiform party system. The president exercises executive power and legislative power and is vested in the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary 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 of Uruguay's history. The 2004 election, however, brought the Encuentro Progresista-Frente Amplio-Nueva Mayoría, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, communists, social democrats, and Christian Democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament. A majority vote elected President Tabaré Vázquez.
In 2009, 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 president Luis Alberto Lacalle Herrera of the Nacional 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] In 2014, 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 the 2019 election, surpassing the socialist Daniel Martínez with 50.79 to 49.2 percent of the vote.[2]
According to the V-Dem Democracy indices Uruguay is 2023 the 4th most electoral democratic country in Latin America.[3]
- ^ "Facultad de Ciencias Sociales". 2014-07-14. Archived from the original on 2014-07-14. Retrieved 2020-11-24.
- ^ "SEGUNDA ELECCION 2019". 2019-12-21. Archived from the original on 2019-12-21. Retrieved 2020-11-24.
- ^ V-Dem Institute (2023). "The V-Dem Dataset". Retrieved 14 October 2023.