Tabare Vazquez is a new president of Uruguay

Leftist candidate &to= english.pravda.ru/printed.html?news_id=14395 ' target=_blank>Tabare Vazquez claimed victory in &to= english.pravda.ru/world/20/91/368/14395_uruguay.html ' target=_blank>Uruguay's presidential election on Sunday, while his closest challenger conceded and ruled out the possibility of a runoff. No official results were available yet. But exit polls and projections gave the 64-year-old doctor 50.9 to 53 percent of the vote, more than the 50 percent plus one vote needed to win in first round balloting. "Tomorrow morning we will begin to work on the political transition because there is no time to lose," said Vazquez, who will become Uruguay's first leftist president ever. &to= english.pravda.ru/printed.html?news_id=14395 ' target=_blank>Jorge Larranaga of the center-right National Party or Blancos, who has 29 to 34 percent of the vote in exit polls, went in person to congratulate Vazquez, informs Reuters. Accoring to the NEWS, Tabare Vazquez was apparently poised to become the first leftist president of Uruguay last night after surging ahead of his two rivals in the presidential elections. Mr Vazquez, 64, who has campaigned for more distribution of wealth and social justice in a nation crippled by a recent economic crisis, declared victory last night after he emerged with between 50.9 and 53 per cent of the vote, according to exit polls. If the official vote count confirms that he has won more than 50 per cent plus one vote, Mr Vazquez will become the country's first leftist leader, mirroring a region-wide political shift to the left. Mr Vazquez, a cancer specialist and former mayor of Montevideo who was running against two other candidates, was making his third bid for office. President &to= english.pravda.ru/main/2002/06/06/29859_.html ' target=_blank>Jorge Batlle is barred from running for a second consecutive term. The contest was largely between Mr Vazquez and Jorge Larranaga of the National Party. Guillermo Stirling, of Uruguay's ruling Colorado Party, was trailing a distant third. Five opinion polls also indicated that Mr Vazquez would win. But Mr Larranaga has insisted that he will marshal enough votes to force a run-off. The 48-year-old former senator has pledged to get people back to work in a nation where the unemployment rate is near 14 per cent. Mr Stirling has cast himself as a choice for a continuation of the country's traditionally sound fiscal policies.

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