“Uruguayans will have to choose between an under-20 [football] team and a team that has experience.” This football metaphor ahead of the Fifa World Cup in Brazil was the immediate response of Uruguay’s former president Tabaré Vázquez (2005-2010) to an unexpected result in the primary elections on 1 June. Not in the primary elections of the ruling left-wing Frente Amplio (FA) which Vázquez, 74, won at a canter, but in the Partido Nacional (PN, Blancos), the more moderate of Uruguay’s two main right-leaning opposition parties. Luis Alberto Lacalle Pou, a veritable stripling by the standards of Uruguayan politicians, at 40, upset Jorge Larrañaga, a PN grandee who reacted to the loss by stepping down as party president. Vázquez will now face a generational challenge.End of preview - This article contains approximately 1434 words.
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