Weekly Report - 06 August 2009 (WR-09-31)

With less than three months before general elections, the presidential candidate for the ruling Frente Amplio (FA), José Mujica, and the opposition Blancos, former president Luis Alberto Lacalle, are competing for the centre ground. Mujica sent his running mate, Danilo Astori, a moderate economy minister under President Tabaré Vázquez, to Washington last week. He also confirmed that Astori would choose the next economy minister. Lacalle, meanwhile, presented his security proposals, which he is making the cornerstone of his campaign, in response to a public perception of rising insecurity.